His maternal grandfather was Robert Jones, who in the late 18th century founded the city's Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church.

Abele attended the Quaker-run Institute for Colored Youth,[7] which later became Cheyney University, where he excelled in mathematics and was chosen to deliver the commencement address.

[8] This achievement was all the more noteworthy for the restrictions Black people faced at the university, including not being able to live in dormitories or dine in the school's cafeteria.

[11] He was widely respected among his peers, earning the nickname "Willing and Able",[6] and also won student awards for his designs for a post office and a museum of botany, and he was elected as the president of the university's Architectural Society.

Under the financial sponsorship of Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, he traveled through France and Italy, an experience that was to influence his design work throughout his life.

She also notes that Abele listed travel to France, Italy, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain on his membership application to the American Institute of Architects (AIA), but not study at the École des Beaux-Arts.

He credits Trumbauer architect Howell Lewis Shay with the building's plan and massing, but notes that the final perspective drawings are in Abele's distinctive hand.

[17] Design of the exterior terracing, including the front steps celebrated in the 1976 film Rocky, is credited to Abele.

Abele was also the architect for Eisenlohr Hall, which functions as the official home of the president of the University of Pennsylvania on the Penn campus.

When Abele joined the American Institute of Architects in 1942, Philadelphia Museum of Art director Fiske Kimball called him "one of the most sensitive designers in America".