Julian Abele, Duke's Designer

[CameronBornAndBred]

In college, I took only one painting class. I'm a painter, so you'd figure in art school I'd take a bunch of those, but I've never been one to sign up to listen to how I'm supposed to do things. So I took the bare minimum. One.
However, my teacher was a cool guy, and I'm FB friends with him. By chance, he posted a fascinating article tonight about Julian F. Abele, the black designer of Duke University. Been in Cameron? Thanks J.F.. Been in Wallace Wade? Thanks J.F.. Been just about anywhere else on West Campus? You get the picture.
My painting teacher taught me more tonight than he did in four years of college.
The article is a year old, but timeless.
https://www.curbed.com/2017/12/6/16743328/julian-abele-black-architect-of-duke-university?fbclid=IwAR1Y6rRd_vU6bg8X3QruuWA74Z-xAT054nFtfae4jqmKJRlA7qJsLlqhMiQ

PS...I did a search on DBR, and was sure that someone would have posted about this guy. Not so much, but in true fashion, the one who referenced it best was Olympic Fan.

Of course, Duke Indoor Stadium -- now Cameron has always been the gold standard for ACC basketball arenas. We should give homage to its forgotten designer -- African-American architech Julian Abele, who took the design of the Palestra in Philadelphia and improved it. Abele actually designed most of Duke's West Campus. Because of his race, his contributions were hidden for a long, long time.

But we should celebrate him now.

https://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?34570-ACC-hoops-arenas-current-and-past

[YmoBeThere]

I learned something new today. Thanks for sharing!

[Bluedog]

Note that Abele's visibility at Duke has taken a recent large bump up given the renaming of "main quad" to "Abele quad" five years ago or so as well as a plaque near the main bus stop of West with information about him.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

In college, I took only one painting class. I'm a painter, so you'd figure in art school I'd take a bunch of those, but I've never been one to sign up to listen to how I'm supposed to do things. So I took the bare minimum. One.
However, my teacher was a cool guy, and I'm FB friends with him. By chance, he posted a fascinating article tonight about Julian F. Abele, the black designer of Duke University. Been in Cameron? Thanks J.F.. Been in Wallace Wade? Thanks J.F.. Been just about anywhere else on West Campus? You get the picture.
My painting teacher taught me more tonight than he did in four years of college.
The article is a year old, but timeless.
https://www.curbed.com/2017/12/6/16743328/julian-abele-black-architect-of-duke-university?fbclid=IwAR1Y6rRd_vU6bg8X3QruuWA74Z-xAT054nFtfae4jqmKJRlA7qJsLlqhMiQ

PS...I did a search on DBR, and was sure that someone would have posted about this guy. Not so much, but in true fashion, the one who referenced it best was Olympic Fan.


https://forums.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?34570-ACC-hoops-arenas-current-and-past

Thanks for sharing - very interesting. Unfortunately can't spork you.

[budwom]

Duke Magazine had a piece on him some years ago, very interesting stuff.

[wncgrad]

Duke Magazine had a piece on him some years ago, very interesting stuff.

See recent publication: Julian Abele and the Design of Duke University: An Extended Essay by Wm. E. King. Available Duke Stores online and via catalogue. $18.00 Great story, great illustrations.
Learned that the architectural drawing of now Cameron Indoor Stadium was the first campus drawing that had his signature.
He designed Georgian style East Campus and Gothic West.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

If he designed Cameron, then by extension he had an influence on Reynold's Coliseum as well. Fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting.