African
Americans Architects Horace Trumbauer and Julian Able, 20th Century masters,
who paved the way.
Horace
Trumbauer was born in Philadelphia in 1868 and educated in the Philadelphia
public school system. By age sixteen, he was working in the architectural firm
of G. W. and W. D. Hewitt.
In 1890 Trumbauer became
an independent architect, working with Wendell & Smith builders, to develop
residential homes in the Pelham and Overbrook neighborhoods of Philadelphia and
in the surrounding suburbs. His success led to much larger commissions, for his
work on large residences for wealthy clients both in Philadelphia and Newport,
Rhode Island. He was known for a variety of styles, including Georgian Revival
and a number of French styles from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Later Trumbauer and his firm which employed a number of graduates of the School
of Architecture at The University of Pennsylvania, including Julian Abele, its first African
American graduate. He expanded the range of works to include institutional buildings such
as the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Free
Library at Logan Circle, buildings at Harvard and Duke Universities, hotels,
and even a hospital.
.jpg) |
| The Philadelphia Museum of Art |
 |
The Union League of Philadelphia
 |
| Overbrook Farms Philadelphia |
|
 |
| Shadow Lawn West Long Branch New Jersey |
 |
| Mainline Philadelphia Suburb |
 |
| Chelten House Elkins Park, PA |
 |
| Mainline Philadelphia Suburb |
