Julian Abele (1881–1950) stands as one of the most celebrated Black architects in American history. He is most well known for his work as lead designer of the Pennsylvania Museum of Art. But he also designed The Free Library building, Duke university's quadrangle and hundreds of other buildings. We encourage you to read his full history here.
But our contention is that much of Philadelphia - itss buildings, all its people, all its history - is greatly influenced by the history of Black people here. Not just free Black people, but also by the international Black led global emancipation movement kicked off by the Stono Rebellion, magnified by the Haitian Revolution, and developed into sophisticated organization structures of emancipation centralized here in Philadelphia.
So what we want to emphasize about Julian Abele is his roots, in which we see the emancipation movement reflected. We want to have that rich history laid out side-by-side with how he chose to develop public spaces.
Here we go:
Julian Abele’s Grandfather was a Sanctuary Builder
Robert Jones was born in 1817 in Philadelphia. As a young man he lived in Kensington as a barber.
In the early 1840s he was part of a group that founded the third Black Presbyterian church in Philadelphia - Lombard Central. Black churches in Philadelphia were more than just places to meet on Sunday. They were the center of a safe and secure social life. When you belonged to a church, you became part of the organizational hub of activities that centered around building structures of support for Black people coming into the city via Underground Railroad routes.
Any church leader would be actively involved in every aspect of building community, from housing people in need, to providing financial support, to providing mental and emotional care.
Robert Jones was a senior elder at Lombard Central and would have been involved in all of those activities. In fact, he wrote the church history.
In addition to the church, we see him active is so many efforts to uplift community.
For example, he was a leader in the Black led Temperance (anti-alcohol) movement.
Later in life he helped to found the American Negro Historical Society (ANHS). If the ANHS hadn’t existed, this site, and dozens of Black history books, would not exist.
Robert Jones married Elizabeth Rebecca Durham, who was a member of the Durhams, a Nanticoke Lenni Lenape family that married into the Black community (See the full family genealogy on Mitsawokett).
The Durhams have demonstrable roots in community building and emancipation efforts. Her father Clayton Durham and her uncle Jeremiah Durham were early leaders in the building of the worldwide AME church. Here they are listed as delegates to the 1832 Annual Conference.
Finally, family oral history suggests that Robert Jones was a descendent of Absalom Jones, a founder of the Philadelphia Black metropolis (see Emma Lapsansky-Werner). We have examined the will of Absalom Jones and note that he did not leave any of his inheritance to any named children. He did leave a lot to his nieces and nephews but we could not find a direct connection from Robert Jones to the named nieces and nephews. If anyone has proof of the connection (marriage certificate, death certificate, census record) please let us know.
Julian Abele’s Mother Grew up in the Context of the Underground Railroad in Philadelphia
Robert Jones’ daughter Mary Adelaide Jones (referred to as Adelaide), born in 1845, is Julian Abele’s mother.
With these powerhouse community leaders as parents, we can imagine that the home was constantly full of activity.
In the 1847 PAS Census Robert Jones' family is living at 63 Union street in a home owned by wealthy Black businessman Joseph Cassey.
This home is now 234 Delancey Street.
In this picture from Google Maps we can see an extension on the house. So on the census it says that there were 4 households of 12 people living in ‘rear 63 union’; perhaps this is where folks were living.
One of the people living in rear 63 Union is called ‘Depee’, with no first name. The Depee family arrived from Haiti after the Haitian Revolution. They settled in Philadelphia and Nathaniel Depee became and important Underground Railroad leader, known for his UGRR stop at 334 South Street (now 724 South). He was in both the 1838 and the 1852 Vigilance Committees.
Side Note: We love how the future *feels* the past - we see this all the time. Weird synchronicities. Like this Black Futures sign right outside Nathaniel Depee's Underground Railroad stop. That's a drawing of Depee right above where he lived from William Stilll's Underground Railroad book.
We don’t know who this mysterious ‘Depee’ is living at 63 Union. Given that Depee is a fairly uncommon name, we might be able to surmise that perhaps Depee might be connected to Nathaniel Depee.
Additionally, the Cassey family lived directly across from 63 Union. This is from our map with the 1860 map layer turned on.
The Casseys were a wealthy Black family and also very involved in emancipation efforts. You may have heard of the friendship albums kept by Joseph Cassey’s wife Amy Matlida. Sarah Mapps Douglass, member of the Female Anti-Slavery Society, was a friend to Amy Matilda and we imagine her walking down this stretch of Delancey as she visited her friend.
Given all of these clues, we think that 63 Union may have functioned as an Underground Railroad safe house. Here’s why:
A Black Community Leader Lived There: Robert Jones was a church leader, and churches were often the first to hear of people who needed assistance on the Underground Railroad
The Owner was a Wealthy Black Abolitionist. The home was owned by Joseph Cassey, a wealthy and noted Black abolitionist.
A Multi-Family Home: The 1847 census shows people living there with different last names, so they were not all a part of the Jones family.
A Home to Formally Enslaved People: Two of those people, Peter Derickson and another unnamed member of his household, indicated that they were born enslaved in the 1847 census. They do not indicate how they were freed which is a sign that they could have self-liberated from a plantation.
A Potential UGRR Agent: Our mysterious Depee could be related to Nathaniel Depee, a member of the Vigilance Committee
If anything, the home provided sanctuary for two known Freedom Seekers. But we can imagine that the home could easily have provided sanctuary for someone needing temporary shelter on their journey to Canada.
Most importantly for our Julian Abele story, this is the environment that Adelaide Jones grew up in.
Adelaide eventually married Charles Able. Over the years the census has Charles' last name listed as 'Able' and 'Abel'. At some point the family adopted 'Abele' as the final spelling of their name. Adelaide and Charles started their married life living with Mary's parents and little Julian must have been exposed to heroic stories from pre-emancipation when pop pop and mom mom helped people get free.
A Family Anchored in Community
By the 1880 US census, Charles and Adelaide moved their growing family to 1524 Lombard. This might be where Julien was born. Julian's family continued to build structures of stability in the Black community. Both Julian and his brother Robert attended the Institute for Colored Youth. Robert Jones Abele, Julian's older brother, also attended Cheyney University. Most notably, Robert Jones Abele, was a founding member of first Black Greek Fraternity, the Sigma Pi Phi.
Sigma Pi Phi considered the founding of Mercy-Douglass hospital, a hospital staffed with Black medical practitioners serving the Black community, to be a major project for them; probably motivated by a desire to combat medical racism.
Mercy-Douglass was built just a few doors from the Abele childhood home at 1524 Lombard street (See the 1880 US Census). Could the location of their childhood home have influenced where to start the hospital?
A decade after Mercy-Douglass hospital goes up, Julian designs the Philadelphia Museum of Art, arguably the most iconic building representing Philadelphia after Independence Hall.
Final Thoughts and an Academic Call to Action
Julian Abele’s roots extend deep into the building of the city-within-a-city that is the Philadelphia Black Metropolis. The Abele family legacy is complex, both deeply rooted in emancipation and community building in the early 19th century and then allegedly becoming more insular, and some have argued - elitist - in the early 20th century.
It's interesting to think about how Julian's family legacy may have affected the values that he took to the literal architectural drawing board. For example, did a grounding in community encourage the design of collaborative and open spaces for communication? Did an awareness of Philadelphia as a sanctuary city influence a design that emphasized reverent, church-like atmospheres? Did the rise of Black Greek fraternities lead Julian to use Greek architectural references in the design of the Philadelphia Museum of Art? These are questions for that dissertation we hope someone will eventually dig into.
Sources:
Boliver, WIlliam Carl. PENCIL PUSHER POINTS. Philadelphia Tribune (1912-); Sep 13, 1913, Courtesy ProQuest
Handy, James. 1902. Scraps of African Methodist Episcopal History.
Jones, Robert. 1894. Fifty Years of The Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church, Courtesy Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsinlomb00jone/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater
Lapsansky-Werner, Emma. 1968. Before the Model City. A study of the 18th and 19th Century Black History of North Philadelphia. https://online.flippingbook.com/view/74849433/
Minutes of the Union Temperance Convention of the Colored Citizens : of Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland and the District of Columbia. Courtesy Colored Convention Project https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/610
Mitsawokett https://nativeamericansofdelawarestate.com/
Still, William. 1872. The Underground Railroad. Courtesy Google Books. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Underground_Rail_Road/8ANWAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Stokes, Keith. https://www.littleoctober.com/philadelphia/
1838 PAS Census, Courtesy Historical Society of Pennsylvania
1847 PAS Census, Courtesy Ancestry
1850 US Census, Courtesy Ancestry
1870 US Census, Courtesy Ancestry
1880 US Census, Courtesy Ancestry
Philly History.org
Wesley, Charles. 1969. History of Sigma Pi Phi, first of the Negro-American Greek-letter fraternities. Courtesy Hathi Trust. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b71218&seq=29
Will of Absalom Jones. Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993, Book 6, Number 23. Page 560. Courtesy Family Search. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9B2-5SDV-L?cat=353446&i=730
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