Brenon-Ideal Studios

 place with historical importance, film/video production studio/facility, historical layer / disappeared object

Hudson Heights, Cliffside Park, NJ
Active 1916-1953

On a picturesque bluff on the Palisades, on what is now John Fitzgerald Kennedy Blvd., overlooking the Hudson River with an unobstructed view of New York City, stood one of the longest surviving studios of the Fort Lee era. 

Brenon-Ideal, as it was commonly known, was built on spec by W.I. Cherry in 1915 and was completed in June of 1916. 

It was immediately leased on a 5 year term by Herbert Brenon Film Corp in partnership with Lewis J. Selznick. It sat on 2.5 acres and had a large stage (10,750 square feet) and a smaller stage (3,500 square feet), an office building, and 3 outdoor shooting stages.

Brenon was an Irish actor and director who was born January 13, 1880 and dies June 21, 1958.

In 1917 Brenon first bought out his partners in the production company, then bought the property the studio sits on.

At some point (date unknown) Brenon lost the company and returned to directing movies for others. The studio continued on for another 2 decades as a rental lot.  One of the last studios in the Fort Lee area to be in production) it finally it burned to the ground in 1953 giving  all of Manhattan one final show.