Buls received an artistic education, and spent a year in Paris, and nine months in Italy, studying fine arts.

[2] In particular, Buls was a steadfast defender and admirer of the Mont des Arts/Kunstberg and the Grand-Place/Grote Markt, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, successfully proposing the 1883 city ordinance protecting the façades of the Grand-Place buildings and providing funds for their restoration, which took place between 1883 and 1923.

At the reopening of the restored Town Hall, Buls greeted Leopold II in Dutch, and the King replied in the same language, which was unusual at the time.

[1] In 1999, a new fountain with a larger-than-life-sized seated statue of Buls and his dog was erected at the Place Agoraplein, close to the Grand-Place.

Buls was an accomplished and prolific author, not merely on educational and artistic issues but also publishing accounts of his travels abroad.