‘Closest to their dreams’: CJC Architects marks 70 years

In the early 1950s, a pair of Tulsa architects began their fledgling business by designing small churches.

Today, that firm — CJC Architects — with a total staff of 10, now has hundreds of projects ranging from multi-million dollar mixed-use commercial to college housing and lab space, to restoring and upgrading military armories.

“We work on a wide variety of different type of clients, from people that are a first-time small-business owner needing a building (who have) never gone through the construction process before — don’t have any idea what they’re doing — to something like a board group like Tulsa County,” said Tim Boeckman, president of the firm, which is marking 70 years in business this year.

“A lot of our projects are very individually tailored for the clients. We sit down with them and talk in detail about what their budget is, what their goals are, what they need, and really tailor a custom solution for their needs and try to really understand what they are dreaming about, and then try not to add too much to it — just try to present to them what is closest to their dreams as possible,” he said.

Boeckman has been with the firm 31 years. He and vice presidents John Hall and Michael Hagan are principals.

Founded in 1953, CJC offers full architectural services including site analysis, master planning, schematic design, design development, construction documents and construction administration.

Joseph Coleman and Bruce Ervin founded the firm as Coleman Ervin and Associates, and eventually located their offices at the old city hall building in downtown Tulsa.

Joined by Larry Johnston and renamed Coleman, Ervin, Johnston, Inc., the firm worked on several notable projects in its early years, including the renovation of the original Central High School into the AEP-PSO Tulsa office headquarters, 212 E. 6th St.

In 1970, founder Joe Coleman became the first architect to be elected commissioner of streets and public property, and is credited with helping to save the Council Oak Tree — an historic Burr Oak tree that marks the site where the Muscogee Nation founded Tulsa in 1836.

The firm managed by Coleman, Johnston, and Maurice Clyma, eventually became known as CJC Architects, Inc. in 2006.

Boeckman introduced 3D modeling into the firm’s practice in 2001, making it an early pioneer of the technology and perhaps first in the state to use it.

CJC’s first project to model in 3D was renovations to the current Tulsa County Courthouse.

A new expanded county courthouse is still being discussed by county officials. CJC is not involved with the new courthouse plans.

The future of the current courthouse — renovated decades ago by CJC — is still unknown.

“This technology has become an invaluable and integral part of our services, still very much in use today to allow us to quickly update building models for clients to best fit their vision,” Boeckman said.

“CJC has always been a very technical firm,” he said. “We do a lot of renovations of existing projects and because of that, we have to know what existing conditions are … so it’s been very important for us to come up with a process that documents what’s there, so that when we propose something new, we’re not getting in the way.

“We’ve always had a good reputation with contractors in Tulsa about having good documents that are thorough, that they can price well and that answers their questions,” he said.

“But the one thing we don’t want to do is cause anybody to have any surprises. Really, for the last 20 years, we’ve been using the 3D technologies to show the clients and the builders what our project is — give them the detail … so that everybody sees up front, before anything is built, what we’re going to build and it really keeps the surprises down … before things get expensive.”

Long-term clients of the firm include Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, for which the firm has done more than 100 projects, Hall said.

The Oklahoma Military Department has also been a significant client, for which the firm has designed, remodeled and upgraded local armories and other facilities in nearly a dozen towns in the state over nearly 20 years.

“One of the main things we do is anti-terrorism, force-protection work,” with those buildings, Boeckman said.

“The other thing that’s important with federal dollars is energy efficiency … which can be difficult because these buildings were built with lower ceiling heights and you have to fit the equipment in very tight spaces,” he said.

Also, he said, “Some of those armory facilities have historical significance for those communities. I remember Altus was just in terrible shape, but it was historically significant.

“The brick was falling off the walls. Well, we redid all the brick, but we put it back in a way that did not disrupt the historical significance of the building.”

In recent years, CJC also has completed projects with Tulsa County including the Expo Building at the fairgrounds, and with private developers, including work on Climb Tulsa, 4923 E. 32nd St., and the One Place Building, 201 S. Denver Ave., downtown.

Its current projects include Iconik Bixby, a $33 million mixed-use development in downtown Bixby; work at various campuses for Battle Creek Church; and the Tedford Insurance development in downtown Jenks.

CJC is one of at least three Tulsa architecture firms recognizing milestone anniversaries this year.

GH2 Architects is marking 50 years; Narrate Design is marking 30 years, along with a name change and new location for that firm.

“We have a lot of repeat clients, which we are very proud of, but we want people to know we are here and we’re looking to get more involved with the Tulsa community, and we are really looking forward to the future,” Boeckman said.

“Our 70th anniversary marks a notable milestone in CJC’s journey, and we are excited to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Tulsa community and clients who have been integral to our continued success,” he said.

“We appreciate everyone’s support through the years, and we remain steadfast in our vision for the future. We are committed to delivering exceptional value to our clients by embracing emerging technologies and staying at the forefront of innovation, all while continuing to support the Oklahoma community.”