All these years later it is still a fortress.. Their blueprints were based on what was popular at the time and while they werent the first or only company to do mail-order houses, theyre among the most memorable because you could buy damn near anything in their 500+ page catalogs. Sears Houses in Elgin, Illinois (Rebecca L. Hunter), BOOK:Houses By Mail -- published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, BOOK: History and Field Guide to Wardway Homes, Rosemary Thornton's Sears Modern Homes website (use to search for models), Beatrice Lask Thesis: Summary list (Cincinnati Sears Homes). Having just covered the Fallen Titan that is Sears department stores, something that piqued my interest was the idea that you could buy literal houses from the catalog. Then, we always get a chuckle when the legal description includes things like, "by a large Elm tree" or "100 feet past a stone marker". One of the things that Marie has done for us, is to perfectly describe our search for Sears houses, as a "badass hobby" that is akin to a "huge historical treasure hunt". Price: $179,900. Its not like nowadays where you move, wait for your stuff to arrive, and if youre a. like me, youre pretty much unable to work while you wait for a technician to ensure you have Internet access.
Sears Houses In the U.S. Rosemary Thornton Had the. When the tiny house movement took off, many builders started offering everything from ready-made prehab homes to foundations and blueprints. built in New Jersey could look just like the same one ordered in Texas and built there, but it wasnt designed to look exactly like the other homes on the block. Homes built after 1916 can be identified as Sears kit homes by numbers stamped on the timbers. I think that we had only a handful of houses already on the list a few. 4120 Adams St., Gary, IN. 02, 2023 : History: Catalogs: Homes: Products: Brands: Stores: People Historic Homes : . Sometimes the legal description is nice and straightforward, like, "lot 15, block C, Tanglewood Estates, in the town of Dunham". While the vast majority of models were for single-family house designs, Sears offered some duplex house designs and even a few larger multiple-family buildings. Depending on where you live, the thought of just building a small or medium sized house can sound totally bizarre or perhaps totally doable if youve got miles and miles of wide open space to work with. I think that maybe Google maps Streetview wasn't great quality on many of the streets. [38][39], One well-known replica of a Sears house is at the "Farm at Prophetstown" museum in Battle Ground, Indiana, which features a replica of a Hillrose model. The first mail order for a Sears house was filled that year. For more information on who we are, and what we do, visit our website: All photos in these blog posts are the property of the author of this blog- link to this blog. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Spatial information is available through GIS downloads or can be viewed in the BIOS Viewer. Thanks! The HMS data portal is a collection of models, simulations and synthetic observations of the Sun. Park, MD. Tasty Soft Garlic and Herb Bread Sticks Recipe How to Make it in 23 Simple Steps, Villa Faberge! So this blog has been radio silent for a while now! Chabot can help people identify if their home was built from a Sears kit if they provide her with an address of the property through the House Seekers website, which also has links to catalogs produced by the company and other sellers. Our list, in fact, began with 345 Sears houses that Mrs. Lask had found in the Cincinnati area, as part of a Masters Degree thesis project at the University of Cincinnati. In other cases, the home followed the general design of a Sears house without being an exact duplicate. The kit was greatly modified by Lane's ambitious designs.
Sears Modern Homes R.L. Hunter Press: Mail Order House Research This was the case with most of the compact pre-1920 Sears houses. If you have any information on a Sears house or a style that is not identified, please notify the Preservation Commission. of "Where are the Sears Houses?" It wasnt until she was in her 20s that Chabot learned about the homes history. 1. The Sears Argyle was named after Argyle Street in Chicago. 115 cuts off abruptly, right in the middle of the front facade, even with the left side of the upper window, and it then has a straight slope porch roof jutting out. Many of the smaller models are regularly torn down.
Complete List of Sears Homes | Aurora, IL The last Sears Modern Homes catalog was issued in 1940. [5] The method was originally named in the sense that the structure was light and could be lifted away like a balloon. Browse the list below to see if there are Modern Homes in your city or state, or to find someone who owns the same model as you. Sears Magnolia was also known as Model #2089. 5 Jun.
national database of sears homes Some models were offered in both wood siding and brick veneer versions with different names attributed to the same or almost identical home plan. by . [1] Sears Modern Homes were purchased primarily by customers in East Coast and Midwest states, but have been located as far south as Florida, as far west as California, and as far north as Alaska and Canada. One final note about our list: as I've mentioned, our list includes, for the most part, homes that we have located, ourselves, but also those that we have learned about from other people. Historic Homes Images of Sears Homes Click on the associated link for a collection of images and photographs of almost all 447 house designs sold through the Sears Modern Homes program. Really, they couldn't find any space in there for the Modern Homes records? Basic cross-gabled two-story farmhouses are to be found almost everywhere in towns and cities as well as many rural areas throughout the United States. See that curled element at the hinge edge? within a fe A very special, authenticated Aladdin home just hit the market in Takoma when you switch jobs, buy a house, and go on an international trip, all When the. I'm sure it was Matthew who cleared up for me that the No. Sears could keep manufacturing costs down compared to standard builders and competing catalogs because they had their own manufacturing facilities by then and were able to mass-produce wood, asphalt, insulation material, hardware, and everything else needed to produce a home that wasnt a Habitat for Humanity hut. Sears's use of "balloon style" framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as did previous methods. Simply put, life was rougher. So, I put together a list, but I decided to provide some clarifying background information in that blog post, too-- it's especially intended to help those who might hear the term Craftsman, and think it means Sears House, or who see a 1920s bungalow and wonder if that means that the street is lined with Sears houses, or who find marked lumber in their house, but can't seem to find a match to a Sears model. In 1908, Sears issued its first specialty catalog for houses, Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, featuring 44 house styles ranging in price from US $360$2,890. Search. Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and its currently estimated that about 70% of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today. Cindy's research in Delaware County, coupled with my research in Montgomery County, netted at least 200 hundred authenticated houses, but that research was preceded by many hours of searching the streets of Willow Grove, Glenside, and other suburbs, by Karen, Nigel, Sarah, Marie, and Andrew. From 1908 to 1940, the Sears Modern Homes Program offered complete mail-order houses to the would-be homeowner what would come to be called "kit homes." Customers could select from dozens of different models in Sears Modern Homes Catalog, order blueprints, send in a check, and a few weeks later everything they needed would arrive in a train car, its door secured with a small red wax . This label was discovered in a Sears Silverdale model home built in 1911 in Northhampton, Mass., by Judith Chabots grandparents. June 1, 2022. by etc north vernon covid testing. They came in all sizes and price points before buying a ready-made house or building kit of your choosing became relegated to the tiny house movement if you dont have the resources to, Sears Wasnt an Innovator, but They Knew Quality and Efficiency. Lara and Cindy were joined by Andrew Mutch, who is based out of his own Sears house, in Novi, Michigan. BMO, LAFC, and Angel City FC leaders were joined by special guests Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Mia Hamm for the . Moreover, it was just more feasible to plunk down a house somewhere because there just werent as many homes on account of a smaller population. . If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. And, to top it off, Gordon-Van Tine has a model almost the same. Action in the Community Through Service Homeless Shelter. 1232 click.
Kmart History | Search Archives | Sears Holdings Alumni | sears.com | kmart.com : Thursday, Mar. Lets find out! This picture came from an original set of Sears "Honor Bilt" blueprints. We maintain the National Database of Sears Houses in the U.S., where we add new finds, almost daily. [15] 1908 was the only year the schoolhouse appeared in the catalog. As I detailed in the account of the rise and fall of the Sears empire, this literally led them to become the largest retailer in America because they had so many burners going at onceand their Modern Homes kits, and even the home buying process itself, were part of that in addition to catalog and retail sales. Because these homes were constructed using pre-cut lumber and plans provided by Sears, these homes can be considered to be "Sears Modern Homes". 110 (, 1524 2nd Street, La Porte, Indiana earliest version of the Sears No. I now live in St. Louis, Missouri, and am sometimes asked if there are any Sears houses here. Among those chiming in about the article was Judith Chabot of St. Louis, Mo., who runs SearsHouseSeekers.com, which serves as a depository for information gathered by Sears home enthusiasts across the country. The Rossville/No. And Sears Modern Homes werent a monolith. We thought it might be of interest to those readers to point out some more of the history of Sears houses in the greater Pittsburgh area, said Chabot, whose family still owns a Sears Silverdale model home in Northampton, Mass., that was built by her great-grandparents in 1911. Photo from Realtor site. Andrew spotted these two houses right next to each other, on W 11th Street: a No. 506 W 11th Street, La Porte, Indiana probable Sears No. Referred to as a gable-front-and-wing, it was a national folk style that owed much of its heritage to the earlier Greek Revival style. We've seen this in Carlinville, Illinois, and we've seen this with large orders of homes bought from Aladdin and from Gordon-Van Tine. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images and more are now available online. 171 often has a full front porch that ends up extending all the way to the left side of the house. There is some debate about whether some homes from Sears that were built in 1941 and 1942 qualify as Sears Modern Homes. Kushel is credited with suggesting to Richard Sears that the company assemble kits of all the parts needed and sell entire houses through mail order. Architecturally, I'm really surprised by the two versions of the Cedars floor plan -- they are completely different, though only two feet were added to make the larger one. 1916 Sears Roebuck Modern Homes. Please contact me if you would like a free That is unique to Sears. By the time of the 1914 catalog, the model had been tweaked, to add the peak gable, closed pediment pop-up dormer over the upper bay windows. Because of the economics after 1931, I can say I am. I think the reason the Sears house is so interesting is that most people associate them with the Wish Book catalog that came in the mail at Christmas. that ranged from simple and rustic to utterly decadent. We could make the assumption that the model we have located the most was, in fact, the top seller. This is just the top of the blog page you'll find dozens of links to online catalogs here, a link to the excellent Pinterest resource made for us by Sears-house owner Dale Haynes, and a list of hard-copy book resources that are both interesting and informative.
Images of Sears Homes Owners of these houses along the years may have, however, found paper shipping labels affixed to the back of trim pieces around doors or windows, or decorative moulding pieces. Our home also resembles the Bedford Model # P3249, 1926 (this was not in your listings). Here is one at 17 Hill Street, Villa Park. In a second blog post, I'll show the several probable kit houses that we've found in LaPorte, Indiana, from other companies. After several years, Sears also began assigning names to the various models. But at the time, there was a housing boom taking place as people wanted to escape the crowds and disease of the cities. I grew up in a Sears house located in Keyport NJ. Others were not but were still pre-cut kit homes built from plans and materials from Sears. The house forms part of the farmstead at the museum.[40]. How Many Sears Houses Are Still Out There? During the Modern Homes program, large quantities of asphalt shingles became available. Moreover, it was just more feasible to plunk down a house somewhere because there just werent as many homes on account of a smaller population. My uncle mentioned that he had found some shipping labels from Sears in the house and when we asked my grandmother about it, she said: Oh, yes, we ordered it from the Sears catalog, Chabot said. There were about 132 million people by the time Sears stopped selling Sears Modern Homes kits in 1940. . Some of these homes were based on models offered in the Sears Modern Homes catalog. Built around 1917 home resembles the Hazelton Model C2025,l 1915-1920 and the Vallonia Model P13049A or P13049B, 1927-1932. muhammad ali i am the greatest speech transcript . In fact, the No. That, still, is only helpful if we can find a plat map online for a subdivision called Tanglewood Estates! The rest of these models are singletons, from the mid 1920s to early 1930s. Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and it's currently estimated that about 70% of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today. New York ranks fourth on the list with 1,679. is selling shipping container homes for about $50,000 a pop and Amazon is also selling prefab tiny houses at a variety of sizes and price points. Author, researcher and lecturer Rebecca Hunter became fascinated with the phenomenon of mail order homes in 1996, and is currently engaged in the study of kit homes and agricultural buildings marketed from 1906-1982 by nine different companies. This product offered the advantages of low price, ease of installation, and added fire protection. In the early years, the models were identified with numbers. Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer. Thanks for giving me a new appreciation for the Argyle! Sears has opened the doors to its vast archival collection and invited the public to peek inside. Thank you for visiting! Parts for the homes, which were sold between 1908 and 1940, were delivered to the nearest rail station. If any of you have ever been interested in coming to see me do a kit home to you on Flickr or Pinterest. Following is a list of Sears Homes enthusiasts who have agreed
, such as stamped lumber in the basement or attic, shipping labels on the baseboards and other millwork, or even looking up your deed and records pertaining to the actual home purchase. She said she didnt know the house was built from a kit ordered from a catalog until after she bought it. Dover, Chateau, and Lexington models are particularly plentiful there! 181 (264P181) in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog, This image is from the 1913 Sears Modern Homes catalog re-print, available, 374 Hawthorne Street, La Porte, Indiana Sears Modern Home No. Because lets get real: affordable ranchers were only for CERTAIN veterans, Government spending was dedicated to housing in an unprecedented manner as the mantra was driven home that the ideal was a nuclear family in a 3-bedroom.
Sears Lewiston: A Sears Model Home in New Jersey - Sears House Seeker Some of the most popular models were:[12], The largest and one of the most expensive Sears models was the Magnolia. Goodwall sheet plaster was an early drywall-like product offered by Sears and may be an indication of a Sears Modern Home. No built examples have been found of some of the least popular models. That's why we love seeking them out! , something that piqued my interest was the idea that you could buy literal houses from the catalog. 06/16/2022 . Honor Bilt homes used the best quality materials that Sears could source and they were designed with what was then state of the art heating, plumbing, and electricity. Cities with large numbers of documented Sears Modern Homes include: The Carlinville, Illinois, concentration consists of houses bought in bulk by the Standard Oil Company in 1918 to house its mineworkers at a total cost of about US $1 million. National Database: Sears Homes in the U.S. SHORT VIDEO: What It's Like to Live in a Sears Catalog Home, SHORT VIDEO: NBC Nightly News visits Andrew & Wendy Mutch, Sears No 137 In Mendham, New Jersey, Morris County. 217 (early Starlight), Sears Modern Home No, 126, on the left, at 808 W 11th Street, La Porte, Indiana, On the right, Sears Modern Home No. Here is a year-by-year list of houses as they were advertised in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs.
Homes Index Prefab homes arent exactly an exotic concept nowadays. 118 In Columbia, Where are the Sears Houses - February 2023 Edition, The Strange Case of the Wandering Bungalow, DC House Cat Chiming In - Historic Mail-Order Homes, Same Name, Different House Part 2 - From Aurora to the Elmwood, 1926 Sears Special Supplement from AntiqueHome.org. The article explained that Sears had already sold five houses that were in the midst of construction, and these first houses were all of three different models, and at least 50 more would be built with the possibility that a total of 200 might find their way to the streets of La Porte (it doesn't look like that happened). 324 W Johnson Road Sears Jewel, Jewell, or Wilmore (depends on the year). Stamped lumber: Most easily found in unfinished spaces like a basement or attic, framing members were stamped with a letter and a number. But what if you want something bigger than a tiny house, but not as gargantuan as the average American single family home? Sears licensed the plans for the Argyle from a. real estate builder/developer named Jud Yoho. Sears Modern Homes were sold between 1908 and 1942. Researchers Cindy Catanzaro and Andrew Mutch, and the late Donna Bakke, put together a document explaining Bea's work, and listing 345 of the houses that she found, which you can see. Originally marketed as the. Images are available Browse the list below to see if there are Modern Homes in your
Thousands of developments in cities, suburbs, and exurbs have sprung up since with a seemingly endless amount of homes that were built between World War II and today. Did materials and labor really get that much more expensive between now and then? 168 (Matoka): Here is the catalog image of the No. houses that share a name also share either a number, a floor plan or had The next housing boom came after World War II so that veterans could have affordable housing for their families and suburbs could accommodate the massive amount of white flight taking place. Argyles also tend to get messed up and hard to recognize like this one at 6818 N. Oriole, Chicago or this one at 1302 Edgewood, Lake Forest. If your house was built between 1908-1940, theres a chance it might be an original Sears house. 199 models here in La Porte, are somewhat tweaked in their design, but we still do think that they are examples of that model. The best guidebook to the basic history of the Sears Modern Homes program, is the book, Houses By Mail, put out by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and written by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl. Other Sears houses were found dotting other areas of La Porte, but the biggest concentration of the early models, probably all from 1912, were in that Lakeview area. 168/Matoka, 301 Weller Avenue, La Porte, Indiana probable Sears Modern Home No. Welcome to Sears Homes! national database of sears homes. It even halted sales of houses themselves for a short time before restarting sales. Sometimes researchers get lucky and find facts and figures in old company newsletters, personal papers of Sears managers and executives, historical newspapers, and archival interviews conducted with people who worked in the department in the 1930's and 1940's. Public records: From 1911 to 1933, Sears offered home mortgages and Sears company officials or the Sears, Roebuck corporation may be named on the mortgage or deed associated with the property where the home was constructed. Following is a list of Sears Homes enthusiasts who have agreed to share their names with others who might be interested in contacting them by clicking on their name. Other models only appeared for one year.
The Top-Selling Sears Kit House - Sears Homes But, as of this date in 2021, here are leading areas in the U.S. with high numbers of Sears houses. Identifying Sears Homes has become a pastime among history enthusiasts because of their sturdy structure, the do-it-yourself nature of construction, and the popular architectural design concepts. Sears also offered a plasterboard product similar to modern drywall as an alternative to the plaster and lath wall-building techniques which required skilled carpenters and plasterers. Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940, though sales through local sales offices continued into 1942. I don't feel comfortable making that assumption. Posted by ; fort lincoln cemetery obituaries; Sears also offered mortgages to home buyers and was pretty liberal with their lending terms, which made them an attractive option for widows, the self-employed, and people in marginalized groups who otherwise had trouble qualifying for traditional bank loansa problem that still persists today. Interested in hearing about Rose's near-death experience?