Daniel Friedman, Rosemary Thornton. It's also helpful that you clarified what a not-a-Sears-house could be. The most complete answer to your question and advice on identifying kit hoes is found at KIT HOMES, Aladdin, Sears, Wards, Others. Notes: this product was sold by Sears beginning in 1916. This home was built from a Sears & Roebuck kit delivered by rail & moved from the train depot to its current location in 1914. she offers a Sears house identification service. My neighbors grandfather helped build my home. We pinpointed nine models from across the country that still stand tall as a testament to American ingenuity. R.R. Get actionable real estate strategy in your inbox. Sears Modern Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Co., an American retailer.. From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Each of the links in this section shows a photo with additional details of the interior of a Sears Kit Home. Here are some tips for how to make this career choice work for you. Tell us about you so we know what to send. Would love to find them. Most folks turned to their local lumberyard or a local contractor, who would have offered booklets of modest-to-elaborate house plans for American home buyers to choose from (we call these, simply. 13354A, 13354B); ($886 to $1,097) shown below. - Thornton, op. Aladdin Homes. 2. Sears Archives Home Page with a few candidates with an expert like Thornton might see immediately as probable or improbable Sears Catalog Houses. Sears Homes. The houses were sold out of the pages of the Sears Roebuck catalog, and the houses in St. Louis were shipped from Cairo, Illinois. as we describe above on this page. Your planned basement project may very well give you added clues to your home's identification. Share these engaging posts on Facebook & Instagram. A nationally recognized founder, branding expert, and industry thought leader, Emile cut his teeth in real estate in 2007 crafting marketing strategies for the Chrysler and MetLife Buildings. This is a great resource for people in the St. Louis area. 1910. By 1940 home designs, specifications (and building codes) with the KETC reporter, walks past and identifies several Sears home models. You might try some of those to see if they have an older historical connection to Keystone kit homes, though we emphasize that these are a bit of a long-shot. Note how the rear roof is much shorter than the front side of the roof. the author of books on identifying Sears houses, cited at REFERENCES below, and NTL Stacks TH4819.P7M66 1924, Our recommended books about building & mechanical systems design, inspection, problem diagnosis, and repair, and about indoor environment and IAQ testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the. . Item #1 is a great reference catalog of home designs, In 1908, when Sears began selling homes by mail, one-fifth of the country subscribed, according to a 99 Percent Invisible podcast about the program. A couple of years ago I became more interested in catalog and kit houses as Chicagoland is full of them, many coming from local companies like Sears, Montgomery Ward, and the Harris Brothers. Detailed in her book entitled, The Houses That Sears Built , Rosemary Thornton writes: "Between 1908 - 1940, more than 75,000 Sears's homes were built. That year, the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan, offered the first kit homes through mail order. Thanks. We may have a kit house, pic from the 30's, abandoned for 35 years, have more pics if needed What do you think so far? would a S&R house have had bead board on all walls and ceilings?? homes were sold and built before that year, but it is certainly the case that the sale of some models continued to 1940. Apologies for the delay. Here are those we know of from Lewis Homes, Gordon-Van Tine, Wardway (Montgomery Ward), and Aladdin: . Sears recommended that wood molding be installed over the joints for superior results. So far we haven't found Sears identifying marks, but will be renovating the basement soon and will be able to look more closely. Please refrain from any comments or jokes about anything else. On 2021-08-18 Sears kit homes were shipped via boxcar and came with a 75-page instruction book. Want even more free resources? For example, Sears sold only, Rose and I have communicated recently about these houses, and she very graciously agreed to update her blog post to reflect that we now know that these are not actually Sears houses, as she is a strong believer in the importance of the accuracy of historic records (. Only the very wealthy would have hired their own architect to design their home. Take a look at the kit house identification clues discussed above on this page and in this article series. Fully renovated in 2011, the home won the Moore Country Home Builders Associations Excellence Award for the Best Historic Renovation. In 1952, my grandfather put up a Cape Cod style kit house in Wilton, CTModel # NM2137-4. The best place to start would be see We are proud to carry Dutch Housing manufactured & modular homes. I should have known. A Sears house is: every Craftsman, bungalow, or Dutch Colonial style house you come across (though Sears did offer many Craftsman, bungalow, English cottage, Dutch Colonial, and Colonial style houses as did every other house company), a house built after 1942 (or before 1908), the only brand of kit house that existed (other companies include Gordon-Van Tine, Aladdin Homes, Bennett Homes, Wardway homes, and others), The answer to this question can be found on. How can you spot a Sears Catalog Home? We've had less success finding details about other kit home companies selling in the United States and Canada, though Rebecca Hunter has compiled a list of a variety of kit house companies. Thanks - anonymous by private email 2021/11/06, another photo of this house was posted on this page. [Click to enlarge any image]. The best starting place is to read through the article above on this page. Not every house in a community of 1920s-era houses, is a Sears house, for example far, far from it, in fact, as only about 2% of houses built in the kit era, were built with kits from Sears. had become more complex, detailed, and demanding, including stricter requirements for electrical wiring and plumbing, and Sears abandoned inspectapedia.com/Design/Kit_Houses.php 7 Tips for Building Your Sphere of Influence in Real Estate (+ Script), 31 Clever Real Estate Marketing Ideas for 2023, 33 Underrated Real Estate Lead Generation Ideas for 2023, Real Geeks Review: An In-depth Look at Features & Pricing, Want More Leads? Thank you so much. The problem starts out front, where the place is just oozing Sears Modern Homes, but the sheer size of the place and unorthodox design left us a bit puzzled as to what exactly we were looking at. Price: $629,000 Charming cottage:Sitting smack dab in the historic district of Pinehurst, this home was assembled from a Sears kit in 1929 on one of the largest lots in the area. And which kit? Here are two examples of plans-only books, available through lumber yards and construction companies: Nonetheless, We're Always Looking For More Sears Modern Homes Kit Houses! I believe it is a Sears crescent model, built in 1935. Attractive top floor apartment in the best location This dreamlike top floor apartment is on the fourth floor of a house built in 1890. bungalow ordered in 1926 for $1000. Sold under the Sears Modern Homes brand, the kits soon became a huge hit; selling thousands of homes all across the country in the company's 33-year history. Benefiting from Hunter's work as well as our own search we list a number of kit or catalog home manufacturers here. Homes has been a family owned & operated home center. In the 19-teens, 1920s, and 1930s, American suburban neighborhoods were growing. What is a Sears kit house? 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 . @Em H, More than 370 different home designs in a wide range of . On 2022-03-07 - Stacey Vairo et als, HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES INVENTORY FOR THE TOWN OF WILTON, CONNECTICUT [PDF] (2018) Wilton Historical Society, http://wiltonhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-Survey-Narrative.pdf also available at Please bookmark this page to make it easy for you to check back for our response. NTL FOLIO TH4819.P7S42 1936, One House or a Hundred. The Anderson, Indiana house is a custom design as are quite a few Sears houses in Anderson, some of which were featured in the Modern Homes catalog in the early 1930s. For more information on who we are, and what we do, visit our website: This question was recently posed in a FaceBook group that focuses on St. Louis history. Thornton rattles off some statistics about Sears Catalog homes and NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61, Aladdin Homes. by Inspectapedia Com Moderator. North Avenue, in Pleasant Valley, NY, a "gothic cottage" Crescent model built in 1932 for $1761. This article The label includes the name of the recipient of the Sears kit house, the . Instead of hiring an architect and an army of carpenters, prospective homeowners could now simply place an order and get plans and building materials delivered right to their property. 1. Price: $569,000 Bungalow beauty: This beauty of a bungalow is tucked in the historic Westside neighborhood and has a newly remodeled kitchen and other modern upgrades. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. Any ideas? I discovered that the Sears Modern Homes program sold 447 ready-to-build, customizable house varieties via catalog to buyers between the years of 1908 and 1940. I work with a group that maintains the national database of Sears Modern Homes. Asking: $374,900 Sears Modern Homes Model: The Sunbeam Year Built: 1924 Listing Agent: Robin Donovan Listing Brokerage: Coldwell Banker West Shell Northern Kentucky. On 2021-05-13 Price: $374,900 Burlington beauty:According to the listing, this catalog home is the Vallonig model. Only one image can be added per comment but you can post as many comments, and therefore images, as you like. Asking: $2,395,000 Sears Modern Homes Model: Wabash Year Built: 1913 Listing Agent: Hartman Cole Real Estate Listing Brokerage: Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Venice, In the non-conformist boomer paradise of Venice, California, we stumbled across this jaw dropping and lovingly renovated Wabash model Sears Catalog home. I'll try to post something. 217 Dutchess Turnpike, in Poughkeepsie, NY, a (1917) 7-room cape which used a basement cistern for its water supply and a fieldstone fireplace. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. by InspectApedia (mod). Sears estimated that the average carpenter would charge $450 to . Asking: $375,000 Sears Modern Homes Model: The Crescent Year Built: 1929 Listing Agent: Steve Heilig Listing Brokerage: Baird & Warner. The updated five-bedroom home is zoned for residential and commercial use, which makes it a great opportunity for a bed-and-breakfast or live-work space. For most of its years in operation, the Sears Modern Homes department served its customers from three locations: In Cairo, Illinois, Sears had a 40-acre lumber and millwork plant. On 2022-09-16 Built in 1930, and the grandson of the original owner/builder told us it was a Sears house. Presented at the Hudson Valley American Society of Home Inspectors HVASHI Annual Historic Homes Inspection-Seminar, Kingston, NY - We did not examine the mechanicals closely in this house, as they were not provided by Sears and Roebuck and were obtained locally. You absolutely can make real estate your side hustle. I'm doubtful we can confirm the Sears kit origin from a photo alone; as you note there were Sears kits for popular home designs built stick by stick as well as copycat kits; You'd want to find stamps on lumber, hardware details or other details given above on this page. She says from 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 kits nationwide, and more than 3,000 in the Cincinnati area. 1920. 1935. 240 Best Sears kit homes ideas | sears kit homes, kit homes, sears Sears kit homes 248 Pins 1y A Collection by Alanagh Macdougall Similar ideas popular now Architecture Sears Kit Homes Build Your Own The Creator America Building Youtube Life Diy Buildings Build your own Sears Kit Home - Life in America - YouTube Interesting History Sweet Home Cabin Thank You, Marsha Blankenship, Your email address will not be published. Would like to build one. Rosemary Thornton's two books Thornton is also after 1940. Since 1971 Sears Mfg. The American Foursquare house, defined by its distinctive cube shape and hip roof, was popular in the 1890-1930s, especially for its affordability. @Carlyn, Sears opened Modern Homes sales centers in several cities, including two inMissouri - one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City. Luckily, the owners also kept lots and lots of original goodies intact that are highly sought after (and highly expensive to build) by design conscious folks across the country. Those in bold are ones that I have written blog posts about, and the link takes you to the blog post: A few years ago, author Rosemary Thornton published, I can tell you, definitively, that the following five houses from that blog post, are not, in fact, Sears houses. Price: $489,000 Livability in Lexington: Built in 1928 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, this four-bedroom home has been meticulously maintained over the years. In addition to the four-bedroom home, the purchase price includes a workshop, a covered, outdoor entertaining area, an 1894 restored barn with attached two-car garage, a clubhouse, and a horse barn. What About The Train's Role In All Of This?