Construction of Englewood Cliffs

Once Van Gelder had approved David Henken’s plans for the new studio, Elva began scouting property and found a good piece of land in nearby Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Before construction began the following year in 1958 (Sickler et al., 2011; Myers, 2012), utilities had to be run from Hudson Terrace on the eastern edge of the property. As they began clearing the land though, two bulldozers got stuck in the mud and had to be rescued by crane. The crew discovered they were not building on solid ground. Without bedrock, an artificial foundation was created with support beams extending from rock to rock. The beams were tall, rectangular wooden forms filled with concrete and strengthened by rebar. Once those were situated, backfill solidified the ground. Concrete beams were then extended from beam to beam and overlaid with concrete planks to form the slab for the studio’s floor.

The walls started going up next. They were made entirely from custom-cast cinderblock impregnated with a tan pigment. From there, the ceiling would be supported by four massive laminated Douglas fir arches. As the walls went up, the arches were shipped to New Jersey from Portland, Oregon through Canada by rail. Once on-site, the arches were hoisted into place by crane one by one, bolted together at the top, then joined at the bottom by steel cables underneath the floor.

From there, uncoated cedar tongue-and-groove decking was laid in place to complete the studio’s high, pointed ceiling.

Finally, concrete was poured to finish the floor. The concrete was tinted Cherokee red and indented with four-foot square delineations intended to echo the modular design of the building (Sickler et al., 2011; Myers, 2012).

Main photo: Rudy Van Gelder at the Englewood Cliffs studio construction site, circa 1958-59 (Source: The Van Gelder Estate)