Julian Francis Abele – Architect – Designer of the West Campus of Duke University
By
John C Abercrombie
Most of us have seen the movie Rocky. We have watched as Rocky trained and runs the steps of a large, magnificent building. Most of us don’t know the name of the building is the Philadelphia Free Library. Very few of know that the building was designed by Julian Abele (pronounced Able). Even fewer know that Julian Abele was a Black Architect during a period when most people had no idea of the unique qualifications or abilities of any Black person.
Julian Francis Abele was born April 30, 1881 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was fortunate to attend the Institute for Colored youth run by the Quakers. This school later became Cheyney University. Abele excelled in mathematics. An outstanding student, he delivered the commencement address.
Following graduation, he took classes in Architectural Drawing at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Arts, graduating in 1898. Based on merit, he became the first Black student admitted to the Department of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
While at the University of Pennsylvania, Blacks were not allowed to live in dormitories or eat in the school’s cafeteria. Such policies were only one of the difficulties faced by Black during these times.
While the South is well known for the restrictive way of living. The North also had demeaning rules as well. Seating in theaters and public transportation was generally segregated and restaurants often refused service.
Later in life Abele is known to have walked more than 10 blocks to work each day rather than face the indignity of being required to sit in the back of segregated public transportation.
While at the University of Pennsylvania, racism was so blatant that when projects were assigned to pairs of students he had to partner with the only Jewish student in the department. Not only Blacks face discrimination in this country, but other nationalities, genders and religions have done so as well, however, none as severe or for such long duration or intensity as Blacks. Abele formed a lifelong friendship with this student, Louis Magazine.
In 1901, Abele won a student competition, designing a Beaux Arts pedestrian gateway. This was his first commission and was erected on the campus of Haverford College. It is known as the Edward B Conklin Memorial Gate and can be seen at the entrance to the college.
Abele earned the respect of his fellow students and teachers and was given the nickname “Willing and Able”. His outstanding work also led to designs for a Post Office and a Museum of Botany. He was elected as president of the university’s Architectural Society. He worked while attending school and attended evening classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts. He attracted the attention of noted Architect Horace Trumbauer and worked in that firm from 1906 until his death in 1950.
While working with Trumbauer, one of the clients was James Buchanan Duke a wealthy founder of American Tobacco Company. Duke commissioned the firm to design 2 of his residences, one in New York City and one in Somerville, New Jersey. The white marble mansion located in Manhattan was declared the grandest home on 5th Avenue in 1924. It had been designed for his family and their 14 servants.
This led to work to transform an existing college in Durham into the well-endowed university that would be renamed in honor of Duke. Abele would then spend the next 2 decades creating designs for the campus.
While it was not exactly a secret that Abele had done work at Duke, it only came into general knowledge when his Grand Niece Susan Cook was a student at Duke in 1986. Students were protesting the apartheid policies of South Africa, and the large sums of money that Duke University had invested in holdings in that country, that the full extent of his work became known to the general public.
Cook, the great grandniece of Abele knew that her relative had designed the neo-Gothic west campus and unified its Georgian east campus, wrote an editorial to the Student Newspaper, noting that Abele would have supported the protests.
Abele had designed the chapel, library, football stadium, gym, medical school, school of religion, hospital and faculty housing. Despite these great accomplishments remains the question of whether he ever saw his work up close because of accounts that when he visited the City of Durham, North Carolina, he was denied accommodations at local hotels.
Cook’s article put into the spotlight the apartheid like policies of America in addition to pointing out what a Black man could create given the opportunity.
This was the first time that Abele’s role in designing the Whites-only university had been acknowledged so publicly. White’s only because Duke did not admit the first Black students until 1961. 37 years after he began his designs of the west campus of Duke.
Many of Duke’s administrators were hearing the news about Abele for the first time.
It may seem amazing that it took until the 1980’s for most people to learn about the extraordinary accomplishments of Abele. It is even more amazing that today, not many more know about his accomplishments. It is estimated that Abele designed in excess of 250 buildings all around America during his career, including Harvard University’s Widener Memorial Library and the Philadelphia Free Library.
Today, there is a portrait of Abele hanging at Duke in the main lobby of the administration building. The university web site devoted a page to him. Later in this tribute to him, you can see a video of a dedication of the quad in memory of Abel.
Outstanding talent allowed Abele to catch the eye of noted Architect Horace Trumbauer. This is remarkable because during these times Blacks had an impossible task finding employment, even when demonstrating outstanding performance. Most Blacks faced a daunting task when seeking employment and most were denied the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities. Abele was able to make his mark with Trumbauer and even rose to the position of chief designer.
The relationship between Trumbauer and Abele was one built on respect. Trumbauer bootstrapped his way through apprenticeship, with reading and fortunate connections while Abele was formally educated. They complimented each other.
Abele’s son Julian Abele, Jr is quoted “you certainly get the impression that there was a great deal of respect” “You have to give Horace Trumbauer a lot of credit for the courage to hire a Black man and put him in such a responsible position.”
Trumbauer and Abele, the White entrepreneur and the Black performer made a way in a society in which class, race and religion often mattered more than merit.
Even today, few people are aware that the magnificent buildings that grace the grounds of the prestigious Duke University in Durham, North Carolina were designed by this talented man. It is astounding that the designs and construction were done over 30 years before Duke University ever admitted the first Black Student.
Abele had been an outstanding student at the schools he was able to attend, and fortunate to take advantage of opportunities to learn that were denied most Blacks.
He was one of the first Black students admitted to the University of Pennsylvania. As a student, he faced blatant discrimination in many facets of his life on and off campus. While the discriminatory policies and practices were less severe than in many Southern states, they were a hindrance none the less.
Abele and the few Blacks who were finally admitted to the schools he was able to attend but were not allowed to reside on campus in the dormitories like other students. Black students were not allowed to take meals in the cafeteria. Such practices may be difficult to imagine today, but they were standard practices during these times.
Off campus, there were separate sections of most public facilities designated for Blacks. At theaters for example, they were forced into the balcony and denied the opportunity to sit on the main level. Even public transportation had separate sections for Blacks, usually they had to sit in the back of the bus for example.
Many public buildings had separate water fountains and even bathrooms were segregated. While we are familiar with bathrooms for men and women, it required an additional bathroom or two. In some situations, there was a single bathroom for both Black Men and Black Women. In some locations there were an additional 2 bathrooms, one for Black Men and one for Black Women. As unthinkable as it may seem, some did not have a bathroom that Blacks could use.
Abele worked during the time he attended school and despite the racism and racist policies he faced every day he was apparently respected on the merits of his work by students and faculty. At the University of Pennsylvania.
Abele’s friend and fellow architect Orpheus “Razzle” Fisher was married to the well-known and respected contralto Marian Anderson for 43 years.
You have read a brief look at the life of a great architect; we encourage you to delve further into the remarkable life and accomplishments of Julian Francis Abele. In furtherance of those goals, we invite you to watch the following videos.
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Videos on Julian Abele.
The following video shows the dedication of the Quad on the Campus of Duke University, pointing out the work and respect afforded this great man.
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Science and Math
Architecture requires a great deal of knowledge and the use of math. Even those who think they don’t like math change when they find innovative and useful ways of using it. Surprise yourself at what you are capable of starting with our Amazon affiliate link below
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Julian Abele: Architect and the Beaux Arts (Minorities in Architecture)
Julian Abele, Architect and the Beaux Arts uncovers the life of one of the first beaux arts trained African American architects. Overcoming racial segregation at the beginning of the twentieth century, Abele received his architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. Wilson traces Abele’s progress as he went on to become the most formally educated architect in America at that time. Abele later contributed to the architectural history of America by designing over 200 buildings throughout his career including the Widener Memorial Library (1913) at Harvard University and the Free Library of Philadelphia (1917). Architectural history is a valuable resource for those studying architecture. As such this book is beneficial for academics and students of architecture and architectural historians with a particular interest in minority discussions.
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Scenes of the beautiful campus at Duke University with choral arrangement
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Minorities in Architecture (1 books)
Julian Abele, Architect and the Beaux Arts uncovers the life of one of the first beaux arts trained African American architects. Overcoming racial segregation at the beginning of the twentieth century, Abele received his architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. Wilson traces Abele’s progress as he went on to become the most formally educated architect in America at that time. Abele later contributed to the architectural history of America by designing over 200 buildings throughout his career including the Widener Memorial Library (1913) at Harvard University and the Free Library of Philadelphia
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The Duke archivist reveals the story of Abele
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The Architectural Legacy of Wallace A. Rayfield:
Pioneer Black Architect of Birmingham, Alabama In the early 1990s, while cleaning out the barn on his property in Bessemer, Alabama, Allen Durough discovered the remnants of the lifework of African American architect Wallace A. Rayfield, including several hundred of Rayfield’s drawings, floor plans, business advertisements, family portraits, and graphic art pieces. This book gathers that priceless material legacy into a cohesive whole, reproducing 159 illustrations that document Rayfield’s life and work on two continents. Born in Macon, Georgia, in 1873, Rayfield apprenticed as a young man with the noted architectural firm A. B. Mullet and Company in Washington, DC, before attending Howard University, Pratt Polytechnic Institute, and ultimately graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Columbia University. He returned south to teach at the Tuskegee Institute and then to establish W. A. Rayfield & Co., Architects, in Birmingham, Alabama. From there he designed buildings for construction across the south (many by mail order) and even in Africa. Rayfield specialized in church architecture, and many of his designs were for black congregations within the state, most notably the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. But he also designed schools, office buildings, and private homes. After falling into bankruptcy during the Great Depression, he died in obscurity.
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Hidden Figures: Norma Merrick Sklarek #BlackHERstoryMonth
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Conflicting Cultures of Architecture and (Black) Power ” another missing piece of our rich history and profound contribution to western civilization. For history buffs please put this book on your must read list… “George C. Fraser, Author of Race For Success and Success Runs In Our Race”[Mitchell] believes that the entire future of blacks in the field of architecture is in jeopardy He then discusses the impact of the Harlem Renaissance on black architecture and the subsequent emergence of Howard University as the center of the black architectural universe…”The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education” seminal ” Architecture Magazine in this long overdue book, aimed at Black America and her allies, Melvin Mitchell poses the question “why haven’t black architects developed a Black Architecture that complements modernist black culture that is rooted in world-class blues, jazz, hip-hop music, and other black aesthetic forms?” His provocative thesis, inspired by Harold Cruse’s landmark book, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, exposes the roots of an eighty-year-old estrangement between black architects and Black America. Along the way he provides interesting details about the politics of downtown development in the Marion Barry era of Washington, DC. Mitchell calls for a bold and inclusive “New (Black) Urbanism.” He sees the radical reform and “re-missioning” of the handful of accredited HBCU based architecture schools as a critical tool in refashioning a rapprochement between black architects and Black America.
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Segregation and discrimination have a devastating effect on the progress and success of the country. We should be cheering the success of all because it helps all. Instead, we have spent centuries attempting to prevent the success of some bona fide citizens of our great country. If it can happen to one group, it can happen to another. We should be a country of unity and equal opportunity for ALL.