[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 21, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1325]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING BLACK ARCHITECT JULIAN ABELE AND THE NAMING OF ABELE QUAD 
                           AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. G.K. BUTTERFIELD

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 21, 2016

  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
contributions of Mr. Julian Abele, the African American architect of 
Duke University's original campus, located in Durham, North Carolina.
  In recognition of Julian Abele's role at Duke University, a ceremony 
will be held on Friday, September 30, 2016 to celebrate the naming of 
the main quadrangle on West Campus as Abele Quad. In 2015, Duke 
students presented the need to recognize Abele and the Board of 
Trustees unanimously approved the naming of Abele Quad.
  Mr. Speaker, Julian Abele is the youngest of eight children raised in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at the University of 
Pennsylvania, where he became the first African American to graduate 
from the University's Graduate School of Fine Arts. Following 
graduation in 1906, Abele was hired as an architect at the firm of 
American architect Horace Trumbauer. There, Abele became chief designer 
in 1909. Abele was admitted into the American Institute of Architects 
in 1942.
  Records indicate that Julian Abele provided the guiding vision for 
Duke's West Campus between 1924 and 1935. He is credited for the design 
of several well-known buildings on Duke's campus, including Duke 
Chapel, Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the West Campus quads. In 1988, a 
portrait of Abele was hung in the lobby of the Allen Building, which 
was Abele's last creation prior to his death in 1950.
  Abele Quad will span the area from the steps leading to the Clock 
Tower Quad, Davison Quad, and the Chapel Quad--an area that is home to 
more than thirty buildings and spaces designed by Julian Abele. A 
marker will be placed at the center of the Quad to inform visitors that 
every surrounding building is the work of Abele's hand.
  It is with great pride that I acknowledge the contributions of Mr. 
Julian Abele and the naming of Abele Quad on the campus of Duke 
University. Abele Quad will let everyone who studies, lives, works, and 
visits Duke's campus be reminded of Mr. Julian Abele, a talented Black 
architect who played a significant role in the University's creation 
during the country's darkest days of racial segregation.

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