Commodore Perry Farm

Th r.r, I C. *. 1 4 7. tj,vi:S t,’J !.&:-r;JO v . I / jL. Lii . ; United States Department of the Interior National Park Service For NPS use only National Register of Historic PAaces ...received lnventory-Nomnation Form date entered See instructions in How to Complete National Register Forms Type all entries-complete applicable sections 1. Name historic Commodore Perry Farm and/orcommon Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry Birthplace, "The Commodore" 2. Location street & number 184 Post Road - not for publication #2 - Hon. Claudine Schneider city, town South Kings town N ..A vicinity of Cunt.cnoionnl dist4ot state Rhode Island code 44 county Washington code 009 3. Classification Category Ownership Status Present Use district public i occupied agriculture museum -.JL. buildings .L.. private unoccupied commercial - park structure both work in progress - educational ..._L private residence site Public Acquisition Accessible entertainment religious object ?LAJn process ......X yes: restricted government scientific being considered -- yes: unrestricted industrial transportation no military other: 4. Owner of Property name Mrs. Wisner Townsend street&number 184 Post Road city, town Wake field PLA.vicinity of state Rhode Island 02880 5. Location of Legal Description courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Town Clerk, South Kingstown Town i-Jail - street & number 111gb Street city, town Wakefield state Rhode is land 02880 6. Representation in Existing Surveys title See Continuation Sheet #1. has this property been determined eligible? yes ç4ç_ no date - federal .... state county - local depository for survey records city, town state NP Form I0.900.h OMEI No.1074-0018 .‘‘‘‘‘.t3.82 Eq, 1031-84 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service For Nt’S use on’y t’lationa! Register of Historic Places received’ lnventory-Nominatñon Form dateentéred Continuation sheet 1 *, item number , Page 2 Historic American Bui ] clings Survey 1956, 1959 Library of Congress Washington, D.C. Preliminary Survey Report--Town of South Kingstown April 1975 Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission Providence, R.I. .t Description Condition Check one Check oS .....X_ excellent ........ deteriorated - unaltered ..D .original site - good ruins DL. altered moved date - fair * - unexposed Describe the present and original if known physical appearance The Commodore Perry Farm encompasses approximately 250 acres of gently rolling fields and woodland on the west side of Post Road U.S. Route 1. Approximately 21 acres immediately surrounding the house and outbuildings are included in this nomination. A pair of gravel drives, joined at each end, lead up from Post Road to the farm buildings, with a spur leading up to the north side of the house see site plan On a rise near the center of the property -- with a large old barn now converted to a guest house, a caretaker’s house, and other outbuildings nearby -- stands a picturesque one-and-one-half-story, gambrel-roof, shingle-clad dwelling, with a massive stone center chimney, an atypical three-room plan in the main block, and a one-story,, gable-roof ell com plex extending northerly from its west side Figures 1 and 2 . The house has had a number of changes made to it over the years. The age of the main block is uncertain, with either 1785 or 1815 given’ as the construction date in various available sources. The overall form and proportions of the gambrel-roof mass are more characteristic of earlier dwellings and would normally seem to indicate an early or mid-eighteenth-century date. Numerous changes in the building fabric, however -- such as replacement of the first-floor joists and subflooring, concealment of framing members, and removal of interior partitions -- make structural analysis difficult and inconclusive. By the time local antiquarians became interested in the Perry House in the early twentieth century, the original massive brick center chimney visible in in old photos had been removed, the interior had been altered, and the entire structure had fallen into a state of extreme disrepair. A rather freely conceived "restoration" executed in the 1920s was followed by another period of neglect and decay. After its acquisition by the present owner in 1944-45, the house was thoroughly rehabilitated once again and has since been well maintained. The north and south sides of the main house each contain a central entrance flanked by asymmetrically spaced windows. The southern doorway, with a five-light transom, was originally the main entrance. The plain doorway on the north, oriented to a vehicle court in the angle between the house and the ell, and the gabled dormer breaking up through the eaves over this doorway are both additions made in the l9SOs. The varied massing of the dl complex is the result of multiple additions over a hundred- year period. The portion immediately west of the main house, with its gable parallel to the gambrel, was added in the 1860s. The wing extending north from this earlier section, with its gable roofs perpendicular to the aforementioned one, was added in two stages: the part closest to the 1860s dl in the l920s, the outer part in the l9SOs. On the east side of this northerly wing there is a rear entrance into the l920s section and a modern overhead door opening into a garage occupying part of the 19’SOs section. The most recent portion of the ell complex, abutting the main house on the south side of the l8ôOs dl, is a solarium completed about 1971, with window walls composed of sliding plate-glass doors and bubble sky lights in a shed roof formed by reconstructing and extending part of the old ell’s gable roof. See Continuation Sheet # 2 NP5 Form .10900. 0MB No.1024-0018 Eq, 10-31-84 Uniéed States Department of the Interior NatIonal Park Service For Nt’S use only National Register of Historic Places recewed - Inventory-Nomination Form datoentered Continuation sheet 2 Item number 7 Page z The interior of the house has been considerably altered over the years. The first story of the original part of the house now comprises three relatively large rooms. The old main entrance on the south once opened into a small central stair hall containing a steep staircase with a plain, square newel and stick balusters. The partition between this hall and the southwest corner room was removed and a new neo-Colonial staircase was installed in the l9SOs. The larger space is currently used as a library and informal sitting room with the staircase at the east end. The present main north entrance opens into a handsome and spacious hall with paneled walls, a cupboard in the northwest corner, and a stone fireplace in the southeast corner with a bolection molding around the firebox Figure 3 . The wall paneling is composed of old doors and was in stalled, together with the corner cupboard and corner fireplace, during the 1920s restoration. At that time the room was used as a dining room. A window in the north wall was closed up and the new front doorway was cut in the 1950s. The hall connects to the library through a door next to the fireplace. A narrow space between these two rooms is divided into closets opening into each room and a powder room opening off the library. East of the hail and library is a living room occupying the entire east end of the house Figure 4 . This space was probably once divided into two rooms, but the partition between has long since been removed.. A large fireplace, added during the 1920s restoration, projects into the room at the center of the east side. It has a molded architrave firebox surround, a bulbous mantel shelf resembling a piece of an overscaled cyma recta molding, beveled overmantel and side panels, and cupboards on each side of the chimney mass opening sideways rather than forward. Some cased corner posts and a massive cased summer beam in this room are the only visible evidences of timber framing in the house. West of the present entrance hall the space in the l8ôOs eli has been converted from a kitchen into a dining room. The fenestration has been changed by moving the two windows in the south wall closer together to make a double window and by cutting a window the west wall and in stalling the sash from the window closed up in the ctitrance hall. Prom the dining room doors lead into the solarium on the south and the re mainder of the dl complex on the north. The part of the dl adjacent to the dining room was added as a maid’s room and bath in the 1920s and was converted in the 1950s into a large kitchen with a breakfast area. At that time an addition containing a large kitchen closet, a mudroom, and a garage was added off the north end of the new kitchen. See Continuation Sheet # 3 NP Fo,mID-900’a ,. ., 0MB No.1024-0018 3.82 ‘ " Exp. 10-31-84 I.Jni.ted States Departnient of the Interior National Park Service - For Nt’S use only National Register of Historic Places recved Inventory-Nomination Form Continuation sheet 3 item number 7 Page 3 The second story of the house originally contained four small bed rooms opening off a walkway surrounding the staircase. One of the bed rooms was turned into a bathroom in the l920s. This arrangement was changed during the .l9SOs renovations and the staircase now rises to a small hall with a bathroom straight ahead in the gabled dormer addition and one large bedroom on each side. The barn, west of the house, comprises a tall one-and-one-half-story, gable-roof, early nineteenth-century main section with a lower one-and- one-half-story, gable-roof, twentieth-century addition to the south side Figure 5.

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