Architectural story:
51 Touro Street is a three-story, Federal-style house with two interior chimneys and a shallow hip roof. The building was purchased by the NRF in 1975 and restored in 1976-77. The house was named after Joshua Wilbour— the builder of the house.
Restoration story:
The house still had much of the early woodwork, and trim when it was purchased by NRF — including mantelpieces. There were two small 19th- and early-20th- century additions that were used as medical offices. These were removed, along with the recessed 19th-century entry. The replacement doorway came from a house located at the top of Thames Street that had been owned by William Ellery, Sr. (that house had been torn down in 1900, but the doorway salvaged and saved in storage for decades). In the summer of 2002, the house was painted in more period-appropriate colors than those chosen during the initial restoration.
People story:
This house is unique in that the builder has been identified as Joshua Wilbour. Wilbour was known in Newport and is mentioned in newspaper ads of the period as a builder and planemaker. He bought this lot in 1800 and in 1802 sold the lot and building to John Wood, which suggests that the house was bought on speculation.
William Ellery III bought the property in 1809. He was the son of William Ellery, Jr., the Rhode Island signer of the Declaration of Independence. In the late-19th and 20th centuries, the house became the home of many Newporters— including an engineer, homemakers, a teacher, papermaker, a salesman, and a telegrapher,
We are looking forward to uncovering more about the people who lived and worked in this home.
