Julian Abele, Out of the Shadows

"The shadows are all mine," proclaimed Julian Francis Abele when discussing the architectural drawings for the new Duke University campus. Construction began in 1930 on the Duke Chapel—a time in the United States when an educated African-American architect stayed in the background of the Philadelphia firm run by Horace Trumbauer.

Abele was born on April 30 in 1881. In 1902 he was the first African-American to receive a B.A. in Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania. Today, Duke University is proud to celebrate Abele as the chief designer for many of their campus buildings. And this year Philadelphia itself gives Abele a big birthday present—the Julian Abele Park at 22nd and Carpenter Streets is set to begin construction in 2012. Happy Birthday!

Read More:

• Great Black American Architects
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• North Carolina Architects and Builders
• University of Pennsylvania Archives
• African American Registry

^{SOURCES: University Archives and Duke University Chapel History [accessed April 27, 2012]. PHOTO of Duke Chapel ©Don Klumpp/Getty Images.}