In 1902, he became the first African American to graduate from the architecture program.Ībele moved to Spokane, Washington, after earning his degree, where he designed a house for his sister, Elizabeth Abele Cook. Through his mother, he is a descendant of abolitionist Absalom Jones, the first African-American Episcopal priest and co-founder of the Free African Society.Ībele attended the Institute for Colored Youth, Brown Prep School, and the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art before enrolling at Penn in 1898. The youngest of eight children, Abele (pronounced Able), was born on April 30, 1881, to Charles and Mary Adelaide Jones Abele. He did all this while working all four years at the architectural firm of Louis Hickman, designing during the day and taking classes at the University in the evening and afternoon.

As a senior, Abele was elected president of Penn’s Architectural Society and served on the student yearbook committee. He received an array of undergraduate awards and won the 1901 competition to design the Conklin Memorial Gateway at Haverford College. (Image: University Archives and Records Center)Ī Philadelphia native, Abele was a brainy and gifted student in what is today known as the Stuart Weitzman School of Design.