Historic Bishop House is Being Renovated for 2019

Located in the heart of Saddle River, NJ – the Bishop House is going thru an extensive renovation to become the center of Saddle River community and meetups. 

The Bishop House renovation is in its next phase of modernizing. The house goes back to the 1800’s and will be used for community gatherings when its reopened later this year.

The project is overseen by Gus Morpurgo of Morpurgo Architects located in nearby Ho-Ho-Kus. The interior construction uncovered some very interesting elements: hand-hewn beams from the original house and knob and tube wiring which was added in the late 1800’s. According to Gus, “Artisans during the 1800’s would use saws, axes, adzes, and chisels among many other tools to create the wood materials that were needed for framing.”

In woodworking, hewing is the process of converting a log from its rounded natural form into lumber with more or less flat surfaces using primarily an ax. It is an ancient method, and before the advent of the industrial-era type of sawmills, it was a standard way of squaring up wooden beams for timber framing.

Local news came into the Bishop House to do a report on the renovation. Mayor Kurpis was there to greet the news team.

“Saddle River is known for four things: incredibly low taxes, large parcels of land, being recognized as having the best elementary school in the entire county, and most of all, its charming and quaint historical village, and this represents one of the iconic buildings in that historical village,” says Mayor Albert J. Kurpis.

Click here to see the news segment.