Julian Abele
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011) |
Julian Abele (April 30, 1881 – April 23, 1950) was a prominent African-American architect, and the chief designer in the offices of architect Horace Trumbauer. He contributed to the design of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and designed much of the campus of Duke University.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Julian Abele attended the Quaker-run Institute for Colored Youth,[2] which later became Cheyney University, where he excelled in mathematics[3] and was chosen to deliver the commencement address. In 1898, he completed a two-year architectural drawing course at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (PMSIA). Following PMSIA, Abele became the first black architecture graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Architecture in 1902.[3]
After his formal education in the States, Abele traveled to Europe with the support of his future employer, Horace Trumbauer. While some contemporaries asserted that Abele studied at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris, there are no records of his attendance at the school. Regardless, Abele spent significant time in France and Italy, an influence that was to direct his design work throughout his life. Abele additionally listed travel to England, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain on his application for membership in the American Institute of Architects.
In 1906, Abele joined the firm of the Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer as an assistant to the chief designer, Frank Seeburger. When Seeburger left the firm in 1909, Abele advanced to chief designer, a position which he would hold until Trumbauer's death in 1938.
Abele designed or contributed to the design of some 250 buildings, including Harvard’s Widener Memorial Library, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Central Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Shadow Lawn Mansion, and many Gilded Age mansions in Newport and New York City.
Abele's contribution to the Trumbauer firm was great, but the only building for which he claimed authorship during Trumbauer's lifetime was the Duke University Chapel in Durham, North Carolina.
-
Gothic House, Tours, France (1915) sketch by Abele.
-
Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC (1932).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Julian Abele, Architect". Library.duke.edu. 2010-05-26. http://library.duke.edu/uarchives/history/histnotes/julian_abele.html. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ "75th Anniversary - Julian Abele". Libwww.freelibrary.org. http://libwww.freelibrary.org/75th/abele.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
- ^ a b Webster, Josephine Faulkner. "Julian Francis Abele (1881-1950)." In Wilson, Dreck Spurlock (Ed.) (2004). African-American Architects: A Biographical Dictionary, 1865-1945, pp. 1-3. Taylor & Francis.
[edit] External links
- Abele, Julian (1881 - 1950) - Philadelphia Architects and Buildings biography
- Julian Abele: Hidden in the Shadows - Duke University Historical Note
- Julian Abele at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art
- The Winterthur Library Overview of an archival collection featuring Julian Abele.
 |
This article about a United States architect or architectural firm is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
