Abele grew up in this home, just south of Fitler Square, with his mom, five brothers, a niece, and sister-in-law, according to Census records.

Julian Abele attended college at the Institute for Colored Youth, where mathematics was his forte. His talent was recognized within the school, and he was selected to give the commencement speech, which was called "The Role of Art in Negro Life."

After attending the Institute for Colored Youth, Abele went on to earn a two-year degree in architecture from the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art. His smarts and wits were also noticed here, earning him the nickname “Willing and Able.” The school is now known as University of the Arts.

While at Penn, Abele won the first-place prize for a competition to design the Edward B. Conklin Memorial Gate for Haverford College. This became Abele’s first commission in his architecture career.

Almost immediately after graduating from Penn, Abele joined Horace Trumbaeur’s firm as chief designer. One of his first projects involved designing the second, 22-story tower to the Land Title building. It opened in 1902 and eventually became home to Trumbauer’s main office.

After graduating from Penn, Abele continued his education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1902-1903, studying architectural design.

Today, the home has been completely renovated inside and out, but in 1910 Abele lived here with his father, two other brothers, and one of his sisters.

Abele joined Trumbauer’s firm in 1902, at a time when the firm had already earned recognition for its enormous, Gilded Age mansions like Lynnewood Hall in Elkins Park. Abele was a chief designer on another project of this size and scope, Whitemash Hall in Wynnwood, built in 1920. The immense neo-Georgian mansion designed for Edward Stotesbury sat on an incredible 300 acres and boasted 147 rooms and 45 bathrooms. Like many mansions of this era, Whitemarsh Hall was demolished in 1980.

The design of the Philadelphia Museum of Art was a large undertaking that involved multiple architectural firms, including Trumbauer’s. But it is now recognized that Abele was responsible for the detail work and perspective drawings. The museum opened in 1928, and in later years the director Fiske Kimball would describe Abele as “one of the most sensitive designers anywhere in America.”

Abele lived in this 3-story rowhome (center) in what is today Graduate Hospital with his wife Marguerite Marie, two of their children, and one of his sisters. As Penn’s biography describes it, “This 10-room, 3-story rowhouse was furnished with elegant French furniture, objets d'art from their travels plus furniture, art work and even needlepoint from Julian's hand.” Given that Abele lived in Southwest Philadelphia throughout his life, it's fitting that in 2008 the Julian Abele Park opened at 22nd Street between Carpenter and Montrose.

Although Abele was born and raised in Philadelphia, he was buried in 1950 outside of the city in the borough of Collingdale at Eden Cemetery. The burial ground was created as a place for African Americans to be buried with respect and dignity and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.