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Julian Francis Abele
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Born: 4/29/1881, Died: 4/23/1950
A gifted designer, most of whose
recognition came after his death, Julian Abele was the first African-American
student to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania's Department of
Architecture. Born in Philadelphia, the son of Charles R. and Mary A. Abele, he
had attended the Institute for Colored Youth and Brown Preparatory School in
Philadelphia before entering the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art
(PMSIA), where he gained his Certificate in Architectural Drawing in 1898,
earning the Frederick Graff Prize of $25.00 for work in architectural design,
evening class students, 1898. From PMSIA he continued to the University, where
he would graduate in 1902. His undergraduate career was distinguished by a
number of awards which recognized both his design and rendering abilities,
including a first prize for the Pretty Memorial of 1902, the Haverford Memorial
Gateway (1901), the Arthur Spayd Brook Memorial (also 1902), and the T-Square
Club membership prize. In fact, even as the effort of an undergraduate, Abele's
work often appeared in the annual exhibitions held by member societies of the
Architectural League of New York. In 1901 he exhibited at the Toronto
Architectural Club ("A Loggia in a Park"); in 1901/02 his design for
a "bird house" appeared in the T-Square Club annual exhibition; and
in 1903, after graduation, his work was included in the Pittsburgh Architectural
Club's annual show ("A Metropolitan Cathedral"). In 1902/03 Abele
also attended classes in architectural design at the Pennsylvania Academy of
the Fine Arts.
While still an undergraduate Abele
worked for Louis C. Hickman in the evenings, and soon after graduation, his
work caught the attention of Horace Trumbauer, in whose office Abele would work
as chief designer for many years. Immediately after graduation in 1902 Abele
went to Spokane, WA, where he designed a house for his sister, Elizabeth Abele
Cook, wife of John F. Cook, who had held the post of Collector of Taxes for the
District of Columbia for a number of years before accepting a position as
Postmaster General in Bonners Ferry, ID (information from Alfred Branam letter
to Sandra L. Tatman, 5 December 1981).
In the period after this construction
Abele traveled to Europe, spending considerable time in France, with the
support of his future employer, Horace Trumbauer. Family history and accounts
by his contemporaries assert that Abele attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Paris during this time; however, no records from the Ecole document his
attendance. This does not mean, however, that Abele did not work in the atelier
system established by the Ecole. Often students would attend an atelier on an informal
basis, never attaining the diploma but nonetheless gaining important Beaux-Arts
experience. In 1903 Abele also traveled to Italy, where he was granted
permission to sketch historic ruins (information from Alfred Branam letter).
Both Italian and French sketches would appear later in the T-Square Club Annual
Exhibition (1915: "Gothic House, Tours, France" and "Basilica
Palladiana, Vicenza, Italy"). On his application for membership in the
American Institute of Architects, Abele listed travel to England, France,
Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain.
By March, 1906 Abele was back in
Philadelphia and in the office of Horace Trumbauer. Initially he assisted
Trumbauer's then chief designer Frank Seeburger; but when Seeburger left the
office in 1909, Abele succeeded him as chief designer and retained that
position until Trumbauer's death in 1938. Among his first designs in the
Trumbauer office, according to a now-missing volume of pay records, were
residences for Edgar Scott and Ida Silverman. After Trumbauer's death Abele and
William O. Frank continued the firm under the name "The Office of Horace
Trumbauer."
Abele's career with Horace Trumbauer
included responsibility for many of the office's larger country houses
(Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, PA; Miramar, Newport, RI; James B. Clews
Residence, Long Island, NY), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and buildings at
Duke University. Most clients, however, never realized that Abele was chief
designer; and due to his race, his name was not well-known outside of Philadelphia
architectural circles until after Trumbauer's death. Nonetheless, his friends
in Philadelphia, like Henry Magaziner, vividly remember his personality and
taste: "He drew with unmatched facility. He worked in many mediums: water
color, lithography, etching, pencil; in wood, iron gold, silver. He designed
all his own furniture and made it, even doing the petit point himself. . . .
While he knew many historic styles, he seemed to love Louis XIV French most of
all. . . . However, he was conscious of good architecture everywhere and very
careful to relate his buildings to what was around them . . ." (Henry
Magaziner, "As I Remember Julian Abele.")
Although Abele early became a member of
the T-Square Club, it was not until 1942 that he applied for membership in the
AIA; and this was at the insistence of Warren Powers Laird of the University of
Pennsylvania.
Written by Sandra L. Tatman.
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© Unspoken Borders 2009. All rights
reserved.