From the shadows

1In the spring of 986, Duke University students invested in the apartheid policy in South Africa. They set up a hut in front of the university church, which is modeled after the volcanic spire of Canterbury Cathedral in England. The nature of * * * prompted a college student to complain to the student newspaper. She wrote that these shacks violated "our right to enjoy a beautiful campus as students." For Susan Cook, a sophomore at Duke University, this letter is a call to action. She only told a few students that she was related to the designer of Duke Church, which was the designer of most original buildings in the west campus and east campus of Georgia's neo-Gothic. She has never met him, but she is sure that if he is still alive, he will support the divestment wholeheartedly as she does. So she wrote an emotional rebuttal. Duke's beauty, she wrote, is a model of what opportunities a black man can create. He was "the victim of the separation of Hyde in this country", and had conceived the campus of Duke University, but he had never seen it because of Jim Crawford, who was segregated in the south at that time. An African-American designed Duke, an institution for whites, years ago 196 1.

It's news to almost everyone. As the documents in the university archives show, Abel's role is no secret. But I've never admitted it so publicly. Cook's letter changed that. Now, the oil painting portrait of Duke University's first black architect hangs in the lobby of the administration building. Even the university website provided him with a webpage.

I should have realized it long ago. Abel was not the first black architect in America, but he was probably the most accomplished architect of his time. 1906, when he joined Horace Tronbauer's All White Philadelphia Company, he designed or participated in the design of about 250 buildings until his death in 1950. Including Harvard University's Windler Memorial Library, Art Museum and free library of philadelphia, as well as many gilded mansions in new york Harbor and new york City. Abel's race, coupled with his humble personality, means that he will never be widely known outside the architectural world of Philadelphia in his life. The habit of signing sketches in the company's name instead of the personal designer's name also makes credit card claims unwise. "All the lines are Mr. Tram Bauer's," Abel once said of the free library, "but the shadows are mine."

Julian Francis Abel was born in 188 1, the youngest of eight children in a successful family, which has long been a fixed life for African-American aristocrats in Philadelphia. On his mother's side, he can ask Abu Salom Jones, the co-founder of the free African society, a free black group that supported each other in the early (1787) cities. His brother Robert became a doctor. The other two brothers and sisters are symbol makers of success. "Julian is not a homemade story," said Susan Cook, who is now in Foote, Cone &; Senior artistic director of Belding advertising company.

When I was a child, Abel attended the Colored Youth College, a normal school founded by Quakers. Because of his ability in mathematics, he won a prize of 15 dollars. He was also selected to deliver a graduation speech. His theme is: the role of art in black life. After studying at Brown Preparatory School, the University of Pennsylvania and the College of Arts and Crafts, Abel entered the Department of Architecture of the University of Pennsylvania. 1902- 1903 studied architectural design at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

The course of the University of Pennsylvania emphasizes the classical techniques popular in the Paris Academy of Fine Arts at that time, which are reflected in the architecture of the World Columbus Expo in Chicago 1893. Abel hugged them. His public buildings will largely rely on the traditions of Greece, Rome and Renaissance, and at the same time strive to maintain harmony with neighboring buildings. Ngs and the surrounding scenery-this is a typical feature of the urban beauty movement, which developed from the artistic method of beauty. In his senior year, he was dubbed as "willing and capable" and was elected as the president of the Student Architecture Association, which is the highest honor that students can give. He also designed a post office and a botanical museum, and won a student award. 1902 when he graduated from college, he was the first black man to do so. By then, Abel, who is 2 1 year old, has been listed as an architect in the city list for one year.

After graduation, Abel is believed to have a record that he went to Idaho to help his sister Elizabeth, whose husband recently accepted the post of postmaster in a small town. 1906, Warren, director of the Department of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania? Bobby. Warren "Popsy" Laird returned to Philadelphia, causing Horace? Trum Trumbauer is an architect whose company is famous for local industrialists and businessmen building residential palaces. At first, Abel was hired to assist Frank Seeburg, the chief designer of Trum Bauer, but in 1909, after Seeburg left and started his own business, Abel took over.

The relationship between Tram Bauer and Abel is ambiguous. The records of this company are hardly kept. Neither of them keeps diaries or keeps too many personal letters. Obviously, through apprenticeship, greedy reading and accidental contact, Tram Bauer and Abel, a black aristocrat with formal education and classical education, made unremitting efforts to improve themselves. Abel's son, 78-year-old Julian F.Abele Jr, a retired construction engineer living in Florida, said, "You must have the impression that everyone respects him." . "You must give Horace Tronbauer a great honor because he has the courage to hire a black man and put him in such a responsible position."

Trumbauer started his own company in 1890, when he was only 2 1 year old. The following year, William Wilsh Harrison of the sugar factory hired him to expand his property in Glenside, Pennsylvania. 1893, the manor was burned down, and Harrison got engaged to Tram Bauer and built a castle-like country house called Gresto Voss (now Acadia University). When Abel joined the company, Trum Bauer had made his landmark building Lynnewood Hall, a Palladian mansion with 1 10 rooms, which was built for transportation tycoons Peter a.B.widdener and Elstowe Manor. 1902, he built an elm tree for the coal tycoon Edward J. Bowen. This is the first of several committees in the "hut" in Newport, Rhode Island, including the clarendon court, which will be notorious decades later for allegedly injecting a dose of insulin into his wife Sonny to induce coma. 1985 was acquitted of attempted murder. )

White entrepreneurs and African-American strugglers share the same aspirations with their wealthy customers. In this society, class, race and religion are often more important than merit. "Tram Bauer and Abel cater to these upstarts, and they want to be physically successful," said Inga Safran, who asked architectural critics in Philadelphia. "They want to create a past. If you build a French winery for yourself, you give yourself a lineage.

James buchanan Duke, the founder of American Tobacco Company, is an example of this unique American independent brand. 1909, Abel started working for Duke in Manhattan Building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 78th Street. Three years later, when Duke, his pregnant wife and 65,438+04 servants moved into the white marble house imitating the Bordeaux winery in the late 65,438+07th century, * * * designated this building (now the Academy of Fine Arts of new york University) as the "most expensive house" on Fifth Avenue. Duke followed in the company's footsteps and was particularly impressed by Harvard University's Widner Memorial Library, which was dedicated to the memory of Harry Elkins Widner who sank with the Titanic in 19 15. 1924, the president of Trinity College in Durham, North Carolina persuaded the Duke to turn the school into a university of the same name, and Trump's office was nodded and led by Abel. In the next twenty years, Abele's design will expand and unify Duke's existing Xiaodong campus and help create a new west campus 1.5 miles away. The original plan to build artificial lakes and fountains never came true, but Abel has been busy with libraries, religious colleges, football fields and gymnasiums, medical schools and hospitals, staff quarters and, of course, small churches.

Besides Duke University and Waidner Library, Abel's most important contribution is the free library and art museum in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Library was built in 1927, based on the Marine Corps Commander and Admiral (H? The two facades of tel de Crillon reflect Abel's admiration for their designer Ange Jacques Gabriel, the chief architect of Louis XV 1742 to 1774. As the background of the famous staircase scene in the movie Rocky Mountain, it is like a huge Greek temple, located in a place that used to be a city reservoir. Trumbauer worked uncomfortably with another company, Zantzinger, Borie and Medary, in design. Although Howell Lewis Shay, the architect of Trum Bauer, finally proposed a compromise design for the building, Abel provided some of the most dramatic perspective views of the building. Fiske Kimball, an architectural historian, was the curator of the museum from 1925 to 1955. He described Abel as "one of the most sensitive designers in America".

Abel also made great contributions to the White Marsh Hall (192 1 completion), which has 147 rooms and 100 rooms. It is a 1000-square-foot mansion in Springfield, Pennsylvania. It is a senior partner of drexel Bank Building (Drexel & Edward, Corporate Bank House? t？ Edward T.Stote *** ury in Manhattan and Evening Post in new york (1925 completed, now it is the location of luxury apartments). In recent years, the question of who did what in Trump Bauer Company has sometimes become the focus of debate. These people say that Abel designed almost every important building produced by the company after 1909, and those who claim that all the credit belongs to Tram Bauer himself. Michael C. Catherine, author of American Glory: Horace Tram Bauer's Residential Architecture, said: "Abel is a very talented person." But Trump Bauer is the genius behind the company, "said Derek Wilson, who is studying Abel's biography. Before Abel took over as chief designer, Tram Bauer's building was "extremely fat and bulky". When you see Abel's buildings, they float on the water and look lighter. ""One can't design a building, "Saffron said. This is a team. "

The architect J.Max Bond Jr, who participated in the design of the World Trade Center Memorial Hall, will also agree. Bond said: "We tend to say,' This is a building built by someone', but many people have contributed to this building and design." . "This is especially true for Tram Bauer and Abel. Tram Bauer is not like Frank Lloyd Wright. (His design) is the work of a company. "

There are no records describing the operation of Trum Bauer's office design process, but in today's companies, there are usually three responsible persons with complementary skills: a business advocate, a designer and a person who turns concepts into blueprints. Obviously, Tram Bauer mainly plays a "Rain Man", Abel plays a chief designer, and William Frank, an architectural engineer, plays a "madman". Obviously, Drumbauer values Abel's talent. A year after Abel was hired, Trump Bauer was asked to cancel the contract (Abel had a job in California), and he replied, "Of course I don't want to lose Mr. Abel."

Abel, who is 5' 8 "tall, wears a beard and impeccable clothes. He regards his race as a fact, a little more. Because of his light complexion, some people are not sure of his race. Although several draftsmen in his office were obviously interested in working under black people, a colleague claimed that he never realized that Abel was black; He just feels like "another person". Biographer Wilson said, "Julian doesn't think he is black for any purpose." . "He is almost a race. He devoted himself to becoming an artist.

In fact, Susan Cook's hypothesis is that because of Jim Crow's law, her great-grandfather has never seen Duke University campus. This assumption has been repeated in countless newspaper reports and is probably wrong. In the early 1960s, John H.Wheeler, a famous black banker in Durham, North Carolina, told George Esser, then the executive director of the North Carolina Fund, that he recalled Abel's visit to the campus during the construction period. More importantly, in the interview with 1989, Henry Magaziner, the son of Abel's friend and classmate Louis Magazin of the University of Pennsylvania, recalled that Abel told him that a hotel in Durham, North Carolina refused to give him a room while he was going to college, and provided accommodation for his white colleague William Frank.

In the south, it is more strict. Philadelphia has a set of social rules that belittle itself. Before Pennsylvania 1930 passed the equal rights law, seats in theaters and public transport were usually separated. It is reported that Abel walks more than 10 blocks to work every day instead of sitting in the back seat of an isolated tram in the city.

Little is known about his social life early in his career. 1906 or so, his sister Elizabeth separated from her husband. He took her and her three children and raised them as his own. By the time he was in his forties, the children had basically grown up. Through his friend and architect Orpheus "Laszle" Fisher (who later married the famous African-American contralto marian anderson), Abel got to know Margaret Buller, a Parisian white woman and the predecessor of nadia Brengues, a famous French musician and conductor. Abel speaks fluent French and soon arranged to learn piano with Margaret, who is nearly 20 years younger than him. There is no doubt that Abel's ten-bedroom, two-bath home on Christian Street left a good impression on people. Located near the residential area of black professionals, this three-story town villa displays antiques, two paintings by jean honore fragonard, a grand piano by Baldwin, an embroidered sofa Abel and several black servants. The night before the couple got married in 1925, Horace Tram Bauer gave each of them a 1000 dollar bill as a wedding gift. Julian F. Abele Jr, the oldest, was baptized in Reims Cathedral on a trip abroad in 1929. Margaret Mary, known as Pachet in the family, died of measles complications at the age of five. The youngest nadia took her name from her mother's tutor.

Cross-cultural and cross-racial integration may be difficult for any couple, but Abels also has personality differences. Margaret likes card parties, movies and bingo, but Abel likes nothing more than going back to the study on the third floor after work to read opera and listen to Amos Hernandez on the radio. However, what ultimately divided Abels was a chaotic thing. While accompanying a radio station in Philadelphia, Margaret met a young baritone singer, Jozep Covalesky, who soon became a frequent visitor to the Christian street house under the pretext of taking the above music class. According to everyone, the two fell into a hopeless river of love. 1933 when Margaret asked Abel for a divorce, he refused. She told Abel that as a wife, she had "died" and moved into a separate bedroom. From 65438 to 0936, Margaret became desperate after learning that Kovalevski was pregnant. Her solution was to marry Kowalewski at St Patrick's Cathedral in new york on June 1936. Maybe she thinks that her "marriage" with Kowalewski (a Catholic colleague) will be sanctified by the church, if not the country. A month later, she finally left Abel, who insisted on raising children. Jenny, the first child of Jozep and Margaret, was born in June 1937. (They finally had two children) Since then, Abel has only had contact with his wife in family activities, although he allowed little Julian and nadia to visit her. Abel wore a coat and tie and continued to host a formal Sunday dinner. In summer, he put his children and nanny in a rented hut in the isolated beach community of Wildwood, New Jersey, and arrived by train every Friday night and returned on Sunday night. Even in hot weather, people can see elegant Abel crossing the boardwalk in a suit and a straw hat.

Due to the ongoing projects such as Duke University Campus, Trum Bauer was initially less affected than most 1929 financial crises. However, when the mansion with dozens of servants became a thing of the past, Trump Bauer did this in many ways. By the mid-1930s, this once prosperous practice had been reduced to a key trio: Trambauer, Abel and Frank. Years of poverty cost Tram Bauer, an alcoholic. 1938, aged 69, died of cirrhosis. Afraid of changing the company's identity in such an uncertain period, Abel and Frank took over Horace Tram Bauer's office with their stationery. This is their name. Abel finally freed himself from anonymity and began to sign the drawings with his own name, and became a member of the American Institute of Architects on 1942.

The continuous construction of Duke University campus filled Abel's last ten years. He signed the drawings of Cameron Indoor Stadium (1940 completed), where Duke Blue Devils are playing basketball now; Later, he worked in the library and physics building. 1950, Abel died of a heart attack at the age of 68. At that time, the company had not completed the construction of Allen Cloth Building, and 40 years later, his portrait was still hanging in Duke's office. Margaret, like an open-minded person, attended his funeral in the house on Christian Street. A three-paragraph obituary in Philadelphia Inquirer pointed out that Abel had a long-term relationship with Tram Bauer, but did not mention any buildings he designed.

Abel, who valued art more than finance, died without a will. Because he and Margaret never divorced, according to the law, she and all the children born during the marriage, including her and Kovalevski's three children, are his heirs. It is reported that Margaret gave up her personal request, but the court appointed a guardian to represent the interests of Kovalevski's minor children. 1956 set up a trust fund for Kowalewski's three children, which was distributed at the age of 25. Abel's surviving children, Julian Jr. and nadia, shared the rest of the inheritance.

Trum Bauer produced two other buildings for Duke University, which were finally folded in 1968. In 1982, the Philadelphia Museum of Art praised Abel's role in museum design. In 2002, the free library held weekend activities to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the architect's establishment in the library. His son Julian said, "I'm sure he will be honored." But he doesn't like speaking, and he won't get honor for it. "

Abel's legacy is architecture, not language. His life has inspired more and more African-American registered architects. 1.0 1.000 among the architects, it is estimated that 1.500 is black. Abel also passed on his love for his career to his son and nephew, Susan Cook's grandfather Julian Abel Cook Sr., who later became a construction engineer. Susan Cook's brother Peter graduated from the architecture department of Columbia University and is now the head of KGP Design Studio, an architecture and urban design company in Washington, D.C. He clearly remembers that the first thing he saw was the building designed by his great-grandfather. In the late 1970s, he and his family visited Duke University, drove around the campus, and then drove a long way to church. "Duke's iconic image suddenly emerged from this dark green forest," he said. "It's one thing to have a building that can move you, but my great grandfather built it! As a practitioner, this is an incredible legacy, and it will not live up to it.