A Guided Tour...

Rummaging through my salvaged work, I came across this poster. Simple straightforward, using architectural elements around the Central building. Designed in the Beaux-Art style, there's vaulted ceilings, flying buttresses of nyaids, rosettes in the ceiling, and gorgeous ironwork. The sad fact is that over time, offices were retrofitted in, with little or no care for the building's overall appearance.


From our site:"Julian Francis Abele, the first African American graduate of the architecture program at the University of Pennsylvania, received scant recognition during his lifetime despite his many significant contributions. Although Fiske Kimball, a noted architectural historian and the director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, acknowledged that Abele was "certainly one of the most sensitive designers anywhere in America" in 1942, the pioneering African American architect remained virtually unknown outside Philadelphia's architectural community until the 1970s and 1980s. Today we appreciate Abele as one of the early twentieth-century's most adept designers of revival buildings, who rejuvenated many long-dormant styles as vital, modern forms of architectural expression.

For more information: The 75th Anniversary