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During and after the Revolution, the Proprietary House suffered extensive damage. A fire gutted the interior. On February 29, 1792, an ad in the
New Jersey Journal and Political Intelligence stated "to be sold ... eleven acres of land ... the property of the proprietors of East New Jersey . . .
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... the remains of the house lately burned, will be nearly sufficient for a new building." The property was not sold until John Rattoon purchased it for $1,051 in 1794. Rattoon, a Perth Amboy merchant, had, carefully concealed his work as an operator for the British secret service. He tore down the damaged rear portion of the upper story, put on a roof, and refurbished the interior.
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In 1808 Rattoon sold the property to Richard M. Woodhull of New York who converted it into a hotel called the Brighton. In addition to building a three-story wing. Woodhull added two stories to the main block. The smaller lintels of the third floor windows indicate the change. During the 1986 restoration the attic chimneys revealed that the original roof had been only about eight feet lower than the present one.
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Woodhull replaced the huge front door, the outline of which is still distinguishable in the brick pattern. The massive brownstone steps were replaced with a two-story porch. A door leading to the second story of the porch replaced
the Venetian window.Almost all of the present woodwork dates from the 1808-1809 period. It was then that the two handsome interior arches were constructed. The New York Gazette of May 27, 1809, described the Brighton Hotel as a "Charming Place, magnificent by nature and elegant by art."
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The War of 1812 ruined the Brighton as a resort. In 1817, it was sold at sheriff's sale to Matthias Bruen, a Perth Amboy merchant who had become one of the wealthiest men in the nation. He resided there until his death in 1846. The Bruen heirs tried again to open the property as the Brighton. Depression and interruptions caused by the Mexican and Civil Wars doomed the project.
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In 1883 the Bruen family conveyed the property to the Presbyterian Board of Relief for Disabled Ministers and the Wives and Orphans of Deceased Ministers. After 20 years, the Presbytery returned the property to the Bruen family. In 1904, the family sold the property. Most of its eleven acres were divided into building lots and Kearny Avenue was cut through. The house experienced a series of owners. Over the years it deteriorated from a comfortable apartment house with a public restaurant to a dilapidated rooming house.
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In 1914, a group of Perth Amboy citizens founded the Westminster Historical Society to raise funds to purchase and restore the Proprietary House. In the late 1930's, the house was measured and plans drawn by the Historical American Buildings Survey. The plans are filed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
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Realizing that the importance of the property was as the Proprietary House and not as the Westminster, the Proprietary House Association was incorporated on September 7, 1966, to succeed the Westminster Historical Society. The State was persuaded to purchase the property and it was placed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Mainly with volunteer help, the Association cleaned out years of accumulated debris and removed walls which had divided the great rooms. The first two floors were open to visitors in 1976. Gradually, it became recognized that the Proprietary House is of state and national as well as local significance. However, the process of decay continually outstripped the process of restoration. neither the Association or the State were able to pay for historically accurate restoration.
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In 1985 the Restoration Partnership of Boston, with William S. Pavlovsky as a principal, proposed a plan under which the Partnership would lease the house and 3.5 acres of surrounding land for 25 years. At its cost, the Partnership would restore and renovate the exterior and finish the interior of the 1809 wing and the upper floors of the main block as offices. Income from the offices would reimburse the partnership. The plan was implemented in 1986.
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The ground and first floors of the original mansion are leased by the State to the Proprietary House Association, which is charged with raising funds for programming, interpretation, and historically accurate restoration.
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