Born: April 29, 1881, Philadelphia, PA

Education: Cheyney University, 1896; Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, 1898; University of Pennsylvania, B.S., 1902

Died: April 23, 1950, Philadelphia, PA

The first black graduate of Penn's Architecture Department, Abele was the first black architect to impact large building design. In spite of the “color line” at Penn, he won designing awards and was the Architectural Society president in his senior year. But after graduating, he was ignored by Philadelphia architects, except for nightwork. To survive, he exhibited designs, moved to Idaho with his sister and her husband, and became a postal clerk. Also, with help from Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, he traveled in Europe, studied Revival architecture, and honed a distinctive style.

Trumbauer hired Abele in 1906. “I hire my brains,” he stated. Abele soon became chief designer; Trumbauer approved and signed blueprints. After Trumbauer's death in 1938, Abele co-headed the firm but worked behind the scenes. In 1941 the all-white American Institute of Architects elected him to membership. His contributions include the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Widener Library, Harvard University; and fifty-three buildings, notably Duke Chapel, at Duke University. Reportedly, when he visited the campus during construction, “a Durham North Carolina hotel ... refused to give him a room ..., while accommodating his white associate” (King, p. 1). Abele's portrait is in the foyer of Duke's administrative Allen Building.