Peter Buloid - Oliver Hazard Perry House, c.1750 (29 Touro Street)

Paint:
Fres~Coat Satin Gloss Exterior

Colors:
Body - NRF supplied custom formulation
Trim - NRF supplied custom formulation
Door - NRF supplied custom formulation
Windows - NRF supplied custom formulation

A large three story hip-roofed house of the five bay plan, with two interior chimneys. There is record of Peter Buloid giving to Lewis Buloid the "large new house…." in1757.

The Buloid-Perry House embraces elements of both the Georgian period and the Federal period. On the exterior, Georgian elements are reflected in the doorway, the rusticated siding, and the general proportions of the building. The rusticated siding was an attempt to imitate stone with wood planking. Stone was the favored Georgian building material in 18th century England. The colonies made do with the plentiful supplies of wood to create their "stone". The rusticated wood siding was "sanded" when the paint finish was applied to enhance the illusion of stone. Sand was either added directly to the paint and applied to the siding or dusted on to the tacky surface after the paint was applied.
Some architectural historians feel the building may have been designed by or influenced by Peter Harrison. Harrison was the gentleman architect known to have drawn the Redwood Library (1747), Touro Synagogue (1763), and the Brick Market (1760). Harrison also is believed to have had a hand in some residential buildings such as the Vernon House (c.1760), the John Banister summerhouse (1756) in Middletown (now demolished, but with parts at Winerthur Museum) and other buildings now gone. Harrison could have had a hand in or influence on the Buloid House, particularly if one makes comparisons to the Vernon house on Clarke Street. It is important to make clear that no conclusive evidence exists to link Harrison to the Buloid-Perry house or the Vernon house.

Federal influences are marked by the three-story façade and the shallow pitched hip roof. One theory on the Federal influences is that Perry, fresh from victory at Lake Erie, bought (1818) and enlarged the building in the Federal style. The thought is the building was in the Georgian style, two-story with a gambrel or hip-on-gambrel roof much as the Vernon house appears today. Under Perry's ownership or a previous owner, Federal elements - the full third floor and shallow hipped-roof could have been added. One would have to examine and date the timbers in the third floor and roof to begin to draw significant conclusions regarding this theory. It is a possibility since many houses of this style dominated both sides of Washington Square at the time, and Perry, flush from his naval successes would have been able and desirous to be "in style".

NRF acquired the building in 1973 from the Salvation Army who bought the property in 1914. The Perry family owned the building until 1865. From 1865 on the building was used for various commercial ventures such as a market, restaurant, and culminating in the use by the Salvation Army as a place of worship and meeting. When purchased by NRF, the 1st floor had long ago been gutted for these various uses, however original fabric did exist in small amounts on the second and third floors.

NRF was able acquire the staircase and some paneling that was saved from the 18th century mansion house of Jaheel Brenton that had been demolished years before. This material was utilized in the first floor front rooms and the stair hall. The restoration took place in 1976 and '77. In 2001 NRF commissioned a careful paint analysis. Samples were taken from plank siding that had been encapsulated by a building to the west. There has been a building abutting the Buloid-Perry House on the west side from about 1860. Some further samples were taken from a piece of original cornice of the south side. These samples corroborated the findings on the planks from the west side. John Vaughn of Architectural Conservation Services did this analysis and the colors were matched in paint by the California Paints Co. of Andover Massachusetts.

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