The Wilbour-Ellery House is a three-story, understated, Federal style house with two interior chimneys. This house is unique in that we know the builder to definitely have been Joshua Wilbour.
Wilbour was known in Newport and is mentioned in newspaper ads of the period as a builder and plane maker. Wilbour bought this lot in 1800 and sold a lot and building to John Wood in 1802, leading one to believe that the house was probably built on speculation.
While the exterior of the Wilbour-Ellery House embodies the simple elements of Federal design, the interior is built in an earlier style and rooms have a Georgian feel. The two, front first-floor rooms, however, are the exception; they show Federal design elements contemporary to the house. The west room has an Adamesque mantle piece and alcoves that are framed with elliptical arches. The east room has rather elaborate cornice and chair rails with acanthus leaf detail. It would seem Wilbour drew inspiration by looking around him at the built details in existence rather than to the English pattern books of the day.
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. An odd turn of chance regarding the house and the Ellery family occurred after NRF purchased the house. We were offered an elegant Federal doorway to replace the inappropriate recessed late 19th century doorway that had been added to the house. We came to discover that the Federal doorway offered to us originally came from the Wm Ellery, Jr. house on upper Thames Street. That house had been torn down around 1900. The doorway, however, had somehow survived in storage for more than seventy years to find use on the son’s house during the NRF restoration.
The Wibour-Ellery House still had much of the original woodwork and trim when it was purchased by NRF. There were two small 19th and early 20th century additions, which had accommodated medical offices. These were removed, as was the recessed 19th century entry. In the summer of 2002 the house was painted in more period-appropriate colors than those chosen during the initial restoration.
