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Albert Pulis House
Built 1861
322 Pulis Avenue, Block 1608, Lot 1
Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
The Albert Pulis House is a handsome and well preserved example of the early stone house form, it is significant for its architecture and its association with the exploration and settlement of the Bergen County, New Jersey area. It is a reasonably well preserved example of the Form/Plan Type of stone houses. The original section of the house have retained their 18th century character with minimal modern alterations. A new floor was installed over the original and the structure has been shored up with new joints and lally columns. The original roof structure remains and all modern additions have been made behind the original house. The exterior walls show a mixed rubble front and rear, the sides are clapboard. The gable has the original roof framing and the eave has a sweeping overhang. The south front of the house has to split leaf Dutch style doors which were altered at a later date. The original part of the house had two bays and one room with one gable end fireplace. At a later date the west wing was added with two bays and one room with a fireplace at the end gable.
History:This charming stone cottage has a pair of entrance doors and deeply set windows; the two enormous fireplaces have cranes; the stairway is boxed in. Cornelius Bush recalls removing a partition of hogs hair and mud ingredients giving the present living room its more generous proportions. The house was sold to Christopher Wyatt who then built a home at 940 Loch Road – now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Horace Grenell. The stone house at 935 Loch Road - now owned by Mr. and Mrs. William Boyer - was the carriage house fifty years ago. When Edward May purchased the property 30 years ago he took almost a year to finish the dam and Shadow Lake itself. The lake was a very lovely private, club membership spot. The former carriage house was then converted into the club house that housed showers, lockers and a refreshment stand. The front lawn was a sandy beach. Later it was remodeled into a caretaker’s home while the Reeve’s family owned the land. In 1960 when Shadow Lake was developed, Robert Black converted the structure into the lovely home with a view of the lake from each room.
Returning to the ownership of Christopher Wyatt, Mrs. Wyatt recalls that “they purchased this land for very little with a picturesque and ancient stone house” The house itself was used by the farm helper and his family, and barns behind the house were used for the hay and the horses the Wyatt’s kept here. The second floor of the house was given to raising chicks in incubators. Several brooders were placed in front of the farm house. One of these had red flannel flaps, and the chicks that came out after a sudden shower were a wonderful advertisement with their little red feathers.
The so called Van Heest slope was part of the property and was used by local children for sleigh-riding. Mrs. Wyatt loved children as demonstrated by her yearly partied for the children. Once while she was watching them sleigh-riding, she expressed her desire to join them but she had no sled. Miss Marie Carlough – daughter of Ed Carlough – hastened to tell her that an old fashioned wide table leaf would do. Mrs. Wyatt promptly got herself one and joined the fun. Mrs. Wyatt told Mrs. Jane Carlough – Mrs. Ed Carlough’s mother-in-law – that she named her daughter after her.
Since Mr. Wyatt used a rather rigid approach to farming which did not allow for the frailties of human nature and the unpredictability of weather, they were relieved when an offer came from Mr. Edward May to purchase the entire property.
The Albert Pulis House has the following map references:
- Hopkins-Corey – 1861 Albert Pulis
- Walker’s Atlas – 1876 Albert Pulis
- Bromley – 1912 Christian Carlough
- Included in the Thematic Nomination to the National Register of Historic Places for the Early Stone Houses of Bergen County, New Jersey