Title
Recognizing and honoring the outstanding contributions and achievements of Julian Abele, an accomplished architect and Philadelphia resident.
Body
WHEREAS, Julian Francis Abele, the first African-American graduate of the Architecture Program at the University of Pennsylvania, received scant recognition during his lifetime despite his many significant professional contributions; and
WHEREAS, Although Fiske Kimball, noted architectural historian and director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, acknowledged that Abele was one of the most sensitive designers anywhere in America in 1942, Abele remained virtually unknown outside Philadelphia's architectural community until the 1970s and 1980s; and
WHEREAS, Born in Philadelphia in 1881, Abele lived most of his life in the city, residing at 1515 Christian Street for several decades of his adult life; and
WHEREAS, An accomplished student, Abele graduated from the Philadelphia Museum and School of Industrial Art in 1898 and entered the prestigious Architecture Program at the University of Pennsylvania that same year, where he won several impressive awards and served as president of the University's Architectural Society during his senior year; and
WHEREAS, After graduating from Penn in 1902, Abele augmented his education by studying architectural design at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts while working evenings for the noted Philadelphia architect Louis C. Hickman; and
\WHEREAS, Abele spent the next few years studying design in Paris and was influenced by 18th Century French architecture throughout his career; and
WHEREAS, In 1906, Abele returned to Philadelphia and joined the firm of Horace Trumbauer, a popular architectural design house that was responsible for many mansions in Philadelphia, New York and Newport, Rhode Island, as well as apartment houses, offices, school buildings, theaters, hospitals, clubhouses, churches, libraries and museums; and
WHEREA...
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