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. While these features werent in every single Sears home, they still set the stage for home builders to realize what people wanted in their new digs because of how much their quality of life was improved. 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. [7] Early mortgage loans were typically for 5 to 15 years at 6% to 7% interest. TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. A Newport Beach home remains dangerously close to tumbling down a cliffside after the ground underneath gave way on Friday morning. Lara Solonickne, who writes the blog. However, we are pretty much limited to counties which have online accessible historic records, and to counties which we are able to physically visit to search in person this means that there are some counties out there with lots of undiscovered Sears houses, because we can't get to the records. Checklist Search provides a simple and fast way to generate a pre-formatted checklist suitable for printing. 06/16/2022 . One key set of homes that we are fortunate to have on our list, comes from the research of noted Architectural Historian, Rebecca L. Hunter. Some of the most popular models were:[12], The largest and one of the most expensive Sears models was the Magnolia. Despite being prefab, they got more character than the endless sea of suburban eyesores we got out there now. 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. 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. 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. 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. of "Where are the Sears Houses?" Harbst said many of the original features in her home are intact and the exterior remains mostly unchanged. Sears Magnolia was also known as Model #2089. 172/ Hazelton, at 810 W 11th Street, La Porte, Indiana. From that, we have to try to connect all of that to an existing street address. We have not surveyed all areas of the country equally. Knowing the limitations of a newspaper article, I know that he will only be able to show one or two house photos, so I thought that I would highlight a few that we have found, through our research. Or, perhaps we have background information about it to share with you!Judith. Precut framing timbers, an innovation pioneered by Aladdin, were first offered by Sears in 1916. Sears Modern Homes built in the 1930s may have a small circled "SR" cast into the bathtub in the lower corner (furthest from the tub spout and near the floor) and on the underside of the kitchen or bathroom sink. I'm currently working my way through the Burlington County records, but they are limited, and set up in a way that makes the process very time consuming. You can search the house listings by clicking on a group of years ( 1908-1914 , 1915-1920 , 1921-1926 , 1927-1932 and 1933-1940 ). This site is a tribute to the original Sears Houses in Cincinnati Because the various kit home companies often copied plan elements or designs from each other, there are a number of catalog and kit models from different manufacturers that look similar or identical to models offered by Sears. This table provides a Streetview link for each house (or, occasionally, a real estate listing link), and, for houses I've shown, but not provided a catalog image of, you'll find a link to a catalog image, as well. 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. Damn, it was like. 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". I think teardowns are the reason that Argyles are not positioned higher in our national database of Sears homes (the Argyle comes in at number 20). If your house was built between 1908-1940, theres a chance it might be an original Sears house. Here is a year-by-year list of houses as they were advertised in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs. Welcome to Sears Homes! Ephemera can help identify a house as a Sears Home. Sales peaked in 1929, just before the Great Depression. Marie's great-grandfather, Freeman Pretzinger, built this Sears. So, I'll just post a nice selection here. Our team did some traveling around streets inside Philadelphia, in neighborhoods like Oxford Circle, Rhawnhurst, and Roxborough, to name a few, and added about 43 houses to our list, from these neighborhoods. In addition to home building costs being up to 40% lower than traditional building, you also had the option to bring your own blueprints to Sears to get them modified for far less than itd comparatively cost to go to a builder or architect today. [37] Similiar references are made to boyhood homes of Richard Nixon and Warren Buffett. "The Sears Homes of Illinois" has more than 200 color photos of the most popular designs that Sears offered and can be very helpful in identifying Sears Homes. They kept up with it, of course, but it sure has good bones. I have the Farnum in New Brighton PA. 1929. some ch Don't miss this never before seen catalog from Sears. Dover, Chateau, and Lexington models are particularly plentiful there! Primarily shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included most of the materials needed to build a house. 2) Look for shipping labels. 168 / Matoka: I am really (really!) More information, in this blog post of mine, documented through historic mortgage research, by Andrew Mutch, Philadelphia Inquirer article by Kevin Riordan, 418 Woodlawn Ave, Collingswood, NJ 08108, USA, Catalogs Online: Sears, Radford, Gordon-Van Tine, Sears Starlight (Sears Homes of Chicagoland), Sears Door Hardware: La Tosca, Shefton, Rhythmic, ONLINE CATALOGS on Archive.org: Sears, GVT, Radford +more. 1227 Disston St, Oxford Circle neighborhood of Philadelphia. Price: $179,900. In it, they included excerpts from an interview with David S. Betcone, who was the chief architect for Sears at the time. I didn't have very many leads for Kevin Riordan, for the NJ suburbs but, for the PA side of the Philadelphia suburbs that's a different matter, indeed! 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. Our home also resembles the Bedford Model # P3249, 1926 (this was not in your listings). Let's take a look at a comparison of that side, for these two models: Also, the front view shows us how the front porch roof connects to the house differently, across these two models. 324 W Johnson Road Sears Jewel, Jewell, or Wilmore (depends on the year). 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. Excuse me while I openly weep thinking about how many vacation cottages today probably cost the same or even more than house houses in many parts of the country. 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). The article mentioned Sears having sold 50 houses in La Porte, Indiana but, interestingly, Sears had actually provided the funding and the houses, knowing that the area was in need of housing right away, and offered to have the houses paid for on time. Interested in hearing about Rose's near-death experience? 306 Highland, Madison, WI. At Greenlawn Cemetery, near the Hampton Roads waterfront in the Newport News, Virginia, area, the cemetery office building is a 1936 Sears Modern Home. The iron strapping itself can be strait or curved, but the curlicue is always there, if it's iron strapping from Sears. Sears's use of "balloon style" framing systems did not require a team of skilled carpenters, as did previous methods. Sears Modern Homes were kit homes and the framing members were stamped with a letter and a number to help facilitate construction. 159 has two full stories on that non-porch side of the house. [17] Later on in the Modern Homes timeline, Sears had in-office designers but titled them as "experts" rather than actual architects.[17]. The windows, the kitchen and the bathroom were updated over the years, but it is still very much the house it was when it was built.. Some builders and companies purchased houses directly from Sears to build as model homes, speculative homes, or homes for customers or employees. Camden County would be a great place to search, because we know that there are Sears houses in Collingswood, Haddon Township, Haddonfield, and Haddon Heights but, how many? But at the time, there was a housing boom taking place as people wanted to escape the crowds and disease of the cities. 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. In areas where the land is already mostly developed and zoned, its not that simple. Later, Sears constructed a second mill in Port Newark, New Jersey and purchased the Norwood Sash and Door Company in Norwood, Ohio. A Gilded Mansion in Newport Beach, CA (Unreal), Fallen Titan that is Sears department stores. This Sears mail-order house named The Crescent was built in Munhall in 1920, according to owner Molly Harbst. Many of the famous designs were commandeered from other sources and/or purchased from architects but given just enough change to be advertised as their own. Due to reviews by homeowners then and now, it would appear that Sears Modern Homes are just as appreciated now as they were then. Sears provided "capital and materials", on the condition that lots and foundations were already in place. Some models of Sears homes were very similar in design to models offered by other kit home manufacturers or through plan books. 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. One of the most expensive models was the Magnolia, a 10-room Colonial-style house with. You'll notice that most are in states east of the Mississippi River, with highest overall state totals in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York. Sears houses can be identified or authenticated using the following methods. June 1, 2022. by etc north vernon covid testing. We maintain the National Database of Sears Houses in the U.S., where we add new finds, almost daily. 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. some ch Don't miss this never before seen catalog from Sears. Sears Modern Homes are something we totally need to bring back from the past for this. So this blog has been radio silent for a while now! | Sears Modern Homes", "Sears Houses in Arlington Virginia: A Comprehensive List", "How Sears built an entire local neighborhood", "Historic Structures Crystal Lake Historical Society", "Sears Houses in Elgin Illinois arranged according to model name", "Philadelphia Inquirer: Sears Homes in the Philly Suburbs and Sears House Hunters", "Where are the rest of the Sears houses in the U.S.? 5 Jun. They werent all the 3-bedroom Craftsman ranch style you see throughout Los Angeles or the compact Levittowners in Pennsylvania and Long Island to the east: the, models were probably the great-grandaddy of the modern McMansion, with the, model being its odd little cousin that sits in the potato salad at the family reunion, what with the odd arrangement of, True to the companys roots in selling to rural Midwesterners, they even had a catalog for farmhouses, barns, and other barn buildings. The group has identified nearly 540 of the estimated 1,000 Sears mail-order homes that are believed to have been constructed in the region. small-town America even into the 1940 census). Home Whatever Happened to Those Mail-Order Houses From the Sears Catalog? This is what these two models look like, in the catalogs (these are from the 1911/1912 catalog): Up until this point, we weren't really sure what the difference was between these two models. Once again true to the companys roots, youre more apt to find Sears catalog homes still standing in former factory towns of the Midwest. We love her for giving us this to quote over and over again and for the many Sears houses that she has added to our list. Shipped by railroad boxcar, and then usually trucked to a home site, the average Sears Modern Home kit had about 25 tons of materials, with more than 30,000 parts. She said she didnt know the house was built from a kit ordered from a catalog until after she bought it. Sears' first kit houses sold for $650 to $2,500, or approximately $16,500 to $63,700 in today's dollars. Click to visit. by . If yours is not one of those, please let us know :) We are confident about all three being Sears houses, but have not been able to authenticate any of them (with mortgage or deed records, blueprints, shipping labels, letters from Sears, or marked lumber). 162 Sears houses still standing, including those in the city of Alexandria. Simple theme. Between 1908 and 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold nearly 75,000 kit homes through its Modern Homes program, which featured 447 styles of houses, ranging from large multistory dwellings to tiny summer cottages with an optional outhouse. I've always seen this one in the catalogs, and thought it was kind of ungainly in proportions, but we hadn't found one before this one this is a pretty good match, though not perfect, but, in the days before pre-cut, we are more likely to see some modifications to the models. . Did materials and labor really get that much more expensive between now and then? Simply put, life was rougher. Looking at the sorry state of Americas rail infrastructure today, this also makes me weep although today theyd just be delivered via truck. Betcone spoke of how housing styles were drastically changing and how many customers wanted more efficient, streamlined designs. The builder was W.L. Chuck Holtzen has joined up with Lara to do research in Illinois, and has been helpful in adding a number of authenticated houses to our list. 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. Sears offered 370 models over the 32 years it sold houses by catalog. houses that share a name also share either a number, a floor plan or had [6] Plumbing, electrical fixtures, and heating systems were options that could be ordered at additional cost; they were many families' first steps to modern HVAC systems, kitchens, and bathrooms. It wasnt until she was in her 20s that Chabot learned about the homes history. of the original Sears homes built from kits are still standing today. Today, those marks can help prove that you have a kit home. Capture from Google Streetview. But, as of this date in 2021, here are leading areas in the U.S. with high numbers of Sears houses. I believe my parents were the 3rd owners purchasing the house in 1965 or 1966. Open to the public. In fact, the No. presentation, nows your chance! within a fe A very special, authenticated Aladdin home just hit the market in Takoma [2] No comprehensive list of their locations exists.[3]. 199 (the predecessor to the Sears, We've put eleven houses on our list that we are pretty confident are the early version of the. Compare house designs to original catalog images. sub 2:15 half marathon training plan; national database of sears homes. The group has identified 2,700 Sears homes in Ohio and 2,300 in Illinois. of "Where are the Sears Houses?" Simple theme. By Posted on Mar 10, 2021. national database of sears homes. Original paperwork for the house including blueprints and letters of correspondence from Sears. 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. Many included the latest technology available to house buyers in the early part of the twentieth century, such as central heating, indoor plumbing, telephone, and electricity . 159 examples that have a closed pediment in the gable (and a porch style difference). Rebecca lives in Elgin, Illinois, and undertook a huge research project, to find, and document, kit houses in that town. 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. We also find street names that have changed (without our knowing that), or, especially for folks who bought their house in 1930-32 (the waning years of the mortgage program), we find that folks lost their homes during the depression, so we can't pin them down using the 1930 or 1940 census records. Parts for the homes, which were sold between 1908 and 1940, were delivered to the nearest rail station. It's highly improbable that any model could hit the 1,700 mark. You can contact Tony by email at tlarussa@triblive.com or via Twitter . That, still, is only helpful if we can find a plat map online for a subdivision called Tanglewood Estates! [35] Another homeowner, Erskine Hogue Stanberry, states that his Saratoga model was the "first house in Chelsea to have electric lights" and that they "are using the original plumbing and wiring".[35]. There are examples of modern homes built based on the design of Sears Modern Home. If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. 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. In real life, with its two full stories, the whole house is a much taller house than the Rossville/171 or the Greenview/115. 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. Powered by, This September 2017 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, this short video story by the Washington Post. Really, they couldn't find any space in there for the Modern Homes records? Despite this large number, Sears houses are still, actually, rare, and only make up about 2% of the houses built in their era. I love finding these houses and learning more about them, the different models that were sold and the people who bought them.. Asphalt shingles were cheap to manufacture and ship, and easy and inexpensive to install. In many cases, we may be able to tell you of homes in your town, that have actually been authenticated as Sears homes, and, in some cases, we may be able to tell you that the house in question is a kit house from another company (consider, , All photos in these blog posts are the property of the author of this blog- link to this blog. I'm not surprised that the Argyle is likely the best seller; it had a long run and was as good-looking as it was practical. Or did we just go wrong somewhere when someone decided the house you live in should be treated like a bank? Sears houses could also be ordered with reversed floor plans. We just love the Walton model! Hi, Lauren! There are many very close lookalikes to this model, so we aren't always confident that they are from Sears, when we spy them in the wild, but this house has Sears curlicues on the hinge end of the decorative iron strapping. 126 and a Sears No. 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. 3 in U.S. with, at today's count, 1,963 Sears homes. If any of you have ever been interested in coming to see me do a kit home When we find a mortgage record, we're just given a buyer's name, and a legal description of a property. Kmart History | Search Archives | Sears Holdings Alumni | sears.com | kmart.com : Thursday, Mar. 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. Were most Sears Houses built by the owners? contacting them by clicking on their name. In some cases, Sears provided construction services to assemble the homes. However, the streets that are lined with these farmhouse models (and many other houses), are actually in the Lakeview neighborhood so, we imagine that was a mistake in the article. *Sears Americus - Temple, PA*It's been about 3 months since the last update Browse the list below to see if there are Modern Homes in your You can find catalog images for these models, in the links on the table at the end of this blog post: Also on W Johnson Road, we have new information from Nancy, who contacted me to let me know that she grew up in the Sears house shown below, a Sears. Run by experienced researcher Cindy Catanzaro (with a little help from yours truly). Marie gives the perfect explanation of our Sears House hunt, in this. We have just over 200 Sears houses on our list, that came from Rebecca's research project in Elgin (it also included kit houses from other companies, that she was able to identify -- we've added those to our lists for those companies, as well). Catarina is quite well informed about Sears houses in the D.C. area, but also has researched the origins of many of the Lewis Homes kit homes in the area. Photo from Realtor site. Builders that already have both the funds and the skilled professionals in architecture, construction, and land use make it easier for the average person who only wants to worry about their career, move, and family. Goodwall sheet plaster was an early drywall-like product offered by Sears and may be an indication of a Sears Modern Home. We saw that on numerous Rossville/No. Fabricated houses sold primarily through mail order, Column detail from a Sears Vallonia house, pictured alongside its appearance in the catalog, Modern interpretations of Sears Modern Homes, "Did Sears, Roebuck Sell Homes in Canada? 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. In their own way, houses with Craftsman-style design elements often managed their own form of ebullient excess such as Modern Home No. 181, Sears No. How Many Sears Houses Are Still Out There? How do we know another house didn't outsell the Argyle after 1931? Instead, shipping labels were affixed to the backside of trim that identified properties. He published the design as #466 in his 1912 "Craftsman Bungalows" catalog. CNDDB Maps and Data. Los Angeles Modern Stilt Home Featured in Heat (Listed for $1.599 Million), International House Flipper Alex Camacho Makes $80k Profit on One House Flip, Bugsy Siegel Murder Mansion in Beverly Hills Flats (Listed for $17 Million), Zsa Zsa Gabors Pink Palm Springs Palace (Listed for $3.8 Million), 35 Kitchen Breakfast Bars The Latest In Casual Kitchen Dining. Powered by, Table of Sears Houses in La Porte, Indiana. Also, homes in southern Ohio may have financing documents through the "Norwood Sash and Door Company" of Norwood, Ohio. Cities that have records of building permits may list Sears, Roebuck as the original architect. Sears Lewiston: A Sears Model Home in New Jersey Authenticated Sears Lewiston 261 N. Jackson St., North Plainfield, NJ 1929 This great-looking Sears Lewiston was built in 1929, and used as a model home for Sears after it was built by Anthony P. Raffaniello, and his wife, Helena. Rockstar, Consistent Trees, and Baryon Mass data from the Generation 3 and Generation 6 VELA Simulations. Looks like Yoho probably bought plan #466 from H. L. Wilson, the actual designer. At one point, I realized that I needed to organize a list of online catalog resources, so I put together this blog post, which has links to catalogs not only from Daily Bungalow and AntiqueHome, but to the many catalogs uploaded on another key resource, Archive.org (have you donated lately?).

Robert Gene Carter Cause Of Death, Long Insult Paragraph, Reference Check After Signing Contract, Pav Bhaji For 10 Persons Quantity, Articles N