"Julian Francis Abele" (April 30,1881-April 23, 1950)

Was a prominent African American Architect,and chief designer in the offices of architect

Horace Trumbauer.He contributed to the design of the Philadelphia Museum of Art,and designed much of Duke University.Born in Philadelphia,Julian Abele attended the Quaker-run institute for colored youth,which later became Cheyney University,where he excelled in math 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 black architecture graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Architecture in 1902.After his formal education in the states,Julian travelled to Europe with the support of his future employer,Horace Trumbauer.While some contempories asserted that Julian studied at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris,there are no records of his attendance at the school.Regardless Julian spent significant in France and Italy,an influence that was to direct his design work throughout his life.Julian additionally listed travel to England,Germany,Switzerland,and Spain on his application for membership in the American institute of Architects.In 1906,Julian joined the firm of the Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer,as an assistant to the chief designer Frank Seeburger.When Frank left the firm in 1909,Julian advanced to chief designer,a position which he would until Horace death in 1938.Julian 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 Manison,and many Gilded Age manisons in Newport and New York City.Julian 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.