Over in Sears & Roebucks home state of Illinois, we found this gorgeous Crescent model Sears catalog home up for sale at a tantalizing price. We describe and provide photographs of Sears Catalog homes, using examples of these homes located in the Hudson Valley of New York. 1. Measuring in at a roomy 3,500 square feet, the four-bedroom home is ready for its new owner to take it into its next century. The oiled wood mouldings and built-ins look like they were designed yesterday and probably look even nicer in person. [Click to enlarge any image]. Better yet, can you identify the model for the listings we couldnt quite get? Thornton cites a Sears house which was completed around 1944. It's a duplex with a floorplan similar to model number 154 (1908-1914 cataloge). Here are five recent sales and listings of Sears homes around Chicagoland. What is a Sears kit house? Both sections span from 1886 to today. Rosemary Thornton's two books Sears kit houses were built from 1908-1942. , and the models offered by Sears followed the design trends of those decades. Located in the desirable Converse Heights neighborhood, the home greets visitors with a large front porch. Any ideas about the model of this home? Located in Cairo Illinois, the largest of these mills covered nearly 40 acres, and the sheer variety of homes it shipped out was staggering. @Carlyn, NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61, Aladdin Houses. As shown here in September, 2005 this charming house was listed for sale by its owners for $299,000. Daniel Friedman has inspected and identified Sears catalog homes in the Hudson Valley of New York, and has included additional identification Rosemary Thornton Price: $334,000. Note how the rear roof is much shorter than the front side of the roof. The fact that there was a railroad in the town, or running behind a house, does not really make it any more likely to have Sears houses in the town. 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. The best procedure would be to go through the Sears Kit House identification steps and details given above on this page. @Amy, SEARS KIT HOME IDENTIFICATION at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice. You will not receive a notification when a response to your question has been posted. COMMENT:Here's is a photo of the Sears ready-cut house that my grandfather build. The Fullerton Sears Kit House - Photos and examples [Click to enlarge any image] . Considering Sears, Roebuck & Co. was founded in Chicago back in 1893, it's no surprise Illinois boasts many of the company's ready-to-assemble kit homes (second only to Ohio). by Adrian McCullough, @Inspectapedia Com Moderator, A Sears house is: not a steel panel house (those are usually Lustron houses), not 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), not a house built after 1942 (or before 1908), not the only brand of kit house that existed (other companies include Gordon-Van Tine, Aladdin Homes, Bennett Homes, Wardway homes, and others). Added to our resources on Sears Kit homes is a now-available archive from Sears itself: http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/byimage.htm Thanks. It helps to narrow that search through Sears home catalogs if you can find the year that your home was constructed. 1910. homes have been much modified or expanded since their original construction. The answer to this question can be found on this Sears House Seeker blog post. Only the very wealthy would have hired their own architect to design their home. But the observation of stencil marks on some framing visible in the interior of the home and research by the owners turned up the original plans for this Aladdin home. It helps to narrow that search through Sears home catalogs if you can find the year that your home was constructed. The houses made it as far as Alaska and Canada, as the parts were delivered by railroad. After 1940: However some homes could have been purchased around 1939 or 1940 but not completed until several years later, depending by Inspectapedia Com Moderator. Description. Since its original construction, especially viewed from the exterior, it would be tough to identify this as a kit home much less as an Aladdin kit home. Included in the overall purchase, were all elements needed for the house, from lumber to roofing; wiring and plumbing; windows and door knobs, and hinges and nails and screws; staircases and all of their parts, pre-mitered; flooring, bath tubs and sinks and faucets; kitchen cabinets and ironing boards; window screens, window shades, and light fixtures. Even better, unlike the other homes weve seen so far, 1670 Whitcomb seems largely untouched from its original design. See full bio. This home retains its beautiful o. then left the rest to the construction company. On 2022-02-01 by Inspectapedia Com Moderator. WHEN AND WHERE WERE SEARS CATALOG HOUSES BUILT? Thornton also suggests that inspectors check for identifying marks at plumbing access panels where you may find marks on wall studs in the bath wall cavity. @Gail Minthorn, Benefiting from Hunter's work as well as our own search we list a number of kit or catalog home manufacturers here. 239 W. Russell Street, Barrington, $949,000. They were shipped by rail, with pre-cut lumber stamped for assembly. There we list the manufacturers of kit or catalog homes sold in the United States and provide links to additional references, kit home identification, kit or catalog home restoration and repairs, and kit home architectural and hardware details, markings, and stencils. Using the Sears numbering system, the contents of the railroad boxcars (typically The label includes the name of the recipient of the Sears kit house, the . 2 Additions later and its still standing. she offers a Sears house identification service. after 1940. An April 1955 photo of the Zoeller home shows the siding now painted white instead of the original wood color. We do not accept money, services, or products in exchange for positive reviews or product placement. Apartment in Munich, Upper Bavaria. However other companies may have both purchased remaining Sears kit house stock or copied Sears designs and continued to sell kit homes 1 story, 2 br, chimney In middle. Sears Archives Home Page A 1925 Colonial-style home in Washington, D.C., that sold last year for $1.06 million had humble beginnings. Sears Catalog Homes (sold under the Sears Modern Homes name) were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck, and Company, an American retailer. Thanks - anonymous by private email 2021/11/06, another photo of this house was posted on this page. Sears kit homes contained 30,000 pieces, including 750 pounds of nails, 27 gallons of paint, and a 75-page instruction book. . For some of these items, there were options (type of wiring, heating, plumbing fixtures, for example, or upgrades for flooring and trim wood), and any masonry items were purchased through Sears, but obtained through a local supplier, rather than being shipped by Sears. Sears Whitehall, also located in the Mordecai area of Raleigh Mordecai has several Sears Homes, including this Sears Sunbeam. The first complete Sears Kit homes, that is, residences, were marketed What almost no one thinks of is Don Corleones house from the first Godfather movie. This was the norm in the era of kit houses kit houses were not the norm. Number 32. The best starting place is to read through the article above on this page. at $500. Also note how the large shed dormer comes off the ridge of the roof. - Thornton, op. In some inspections you will find a few rafters or beams which show, Framing marks on other kit house brands and their framing lumber are discussed below at, Labels may be present on the back of millwork (baseboard, window, door trim, staircase) as Sears used a common supplier, "Sears, Roebuck and Company," or "925 Homan Ave. Chicago" may be present on shipping labels. cit. It has a sears name plate in basement. I'm in search of the floor plan that goes with this old house that we believe is an old Sears Kit house. St. Louis is home to a small neighborhood of pre-fab kit homes made by the Gunnison homes company, in 1949. Number 26. Also lovingly renovated with lots of lovely original details like picture frame mouldings and french doors, 5953 Jefferson in Burlington, Kentucky looks like the perfect place to while away a summer afternoon with a mint julep and a great book. Any help would be appreciated! As an amateur historian and NOCO Realtor, this list will be most helpful. modular home company) - https://www.homesbykeystone.com/ It also has a daydream-worthy covered porch with three exposures; a perfect spot for a late summer dinner. You absolutely can make real estate your side hustle. which are definitely not Sears Catalog Houses are included in this list as a fun exercise for readers. That "Bungalow" stencil or stamping appears to be on the wall or roof cavity side of wood sheathing - and may indeed indicate that the home was built from a kit. 12 Shocking Real Estate Facts: FREE Social Media Posts [Download]. Today, the only way to find these homes in literally one by one. Geoffrey's Toy Box - toys, video games, videos (Revival of Toys R Us) Harvey Norman - furniture, housewares, electronics; Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, United Kingdom (Northern Ireland), Slovenia and Croatia. We are proud to carry Dutch Housing manufactured & modular homes. The Homart kits that Sears sold, were available from about 1946-1952 (depending on your source). @George, (Plumbing and electrical systems, however, did not come with the kits.). Post a photo of what you find. But we can't rule out traditional plaster lath. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images and more are now available online. Stamps on millwork or labels from "Norwood Sash and Door" (maybe) indicate Sears suppliers. Designs for 370 different plans ranged from the elaborate to the simple; the 'Goldenrod', for example, was a three-room vacation cottage (no bath, out-house separate). by danjoefriedman (mod). 1920. Stamps or marks will tell you which supplier supplied Sears with the millwork, Norwood Sash and Door of Ohio. We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need. We did not photograph the kitchen and bath as they had been remodeled leaving no obvious original materials. Would love to find them. The Journal article (1/7/1990 F1-2), also identified other Sears MASONRY BLOCKS WITH A DECORATED EXTERIOR FACE, CENTER BLOCK UNDER FRONT PORCH ROOF (Vallonia), HISTORIC AND ARCHITECTURAL RESOURCES INVENTORY FOR THE TOWN OF WILTON, CONNECTICUT, SEARS KENMORE WATER HEATER AGE & MANUALS, SEARS ROEBUCK VINYL ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE RECOGNITION, ARTICLE INDEX to BUILDING DAMAGE, DISASTER, REPAIRS, Amazon Books on Sears and other Kit or Catalog Houses, Gentle Beam Publications - http://www.gentlebeampublications.com/, HOME INSPECTION EDUCATION COURSES (Canada), HOME INSPECTION EDUCATION: HOME STUDY COURSES, Although its outside appearance that closely resembles the home show in this, A Sears Catalog home built decades ago may by now have been covered with, These homes may also have been expanded at the side and/or, Some interior details remain and are easy to find, including a wide, This particular Sears catalog house in New York also had an interesting, Insulation in Sears houses: Mineral wool also called, In some of these photos of framing lumber stamps you may also recognize, Stamps or stenciled markings on ends of floor joists, Manchester Road in Poughkeepsie, NY (Dietz, late 1920s) which includes markings 'Order Chgo Milwk Sup', and 'hall closet' on a hall closet door frame. Let our vast experience and top picks guide your decision. We did not examine the mechanicals closely in this house, as they were not provided by Sears and Roebuck and were obtained locally. I'd like to be able to answer your question but as there were over 100 kit home models made over quite a few decades, with just your description I cannot. . Great finda Sears "Magnolia" in Canton, Ohio, and its catalog listing. That was the way our American towns were built. Daniel Friedman, Rosemary Thornton. In 1915 Sears kit homes included fiberboard panels used for ceilings and walls. The Madeira Historical Society has this Sears home kit catalog from 1932. 1908 was a heady year for technology. bungalow ordered in 1926 for $1000. Sears Modern Homes typically arrived with a detailed instruction manual and two boxcars worth of building materials. It was also built in 1902, and Sears didnt start selling homes from their catalog until 1908. Why not sell houses in kit form through his already ubiquitous Sears & Roebuck catalog? Number18. Number 37. I would love an opinion. Gunnison pre-fab kit homes. Historic house: Built in 1911, this Sears home sits on a large, corner lot in a historic district, surrounded by antebellum homes. R.R. The milestones, introductions and stories fill volumes. 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. Thanks for your interest! Located on a tree-lined street in a lovely, mature neighborhood, the property has had the same owner for 25 years. From 1908 until 1940, Sears, Roebuck and Company, then headquartered on the West Side of Chicago, Well, as fun as a puzzle can be under deadline I guess. My neighbors grandfather helped build my home. Between 1908 and 1940, more than 70,000 of these Sears Kit Homes were built across America. While sold primarily to East Coast and Midwest states, Sears homes have been located as far south as Florida and as far west as California. Researching Historic Kit and Plan Book Homes, 2) Unless you can recognize the many models offered in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs, houses built from kits are indistinguishable from those built through the standard process using a construction company. Beginning in 1929, and not by coincidence, the volume of Sears Catalog houses sold dropped dramatically. I would love some insight! One of sears original models. Some people like to mention the huge collection of Sears Modern Homes in Carlinville, Illinois, when they speak of Sears Houses in the St. Louis area, but, given that Carlinville is a 90-minute drive from St. Louis County, in a different state, I don't include them in my list. Yes Mary; Homes offers a wide variety of energy efficient homes ranging in size from 950 to over 2300 square feet with prices starting as low as fifty dollars per square foot depending on style & size. The thickness dimensions do not include field-applied top coat layers of finished plaster. Sears prefabricated almost all of these homes in giant mills situated across the country. contain additional specific details which you will find instrumental in identifying Sears Catalog Homes. We know that there are two purported Sears kit homes on Route 302 in Bridgton, a Sears house in Saco, and there are likely more kit homes that have not yet been surveyed and identified in subdivisions from the 20s, 30s, and 40s in our communities. Minor andmajor changes - from adding a few more windows to changing from a hip roof to agabled roof - were suggested and encouraged. Your email address will not be published. Outdoors, a large deck in the backyard offers an ideal spot for warm-weather entertaining. Sears Modern Homes 1930 pg14, Elmhurst.jpg download. I'll try to post something. 1. Please call or text 815-603-7338. The Sears Modern Homes catalog from 1930. Later volumes offered up to 370 designs. 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. 3. However the combination of catalog By 1940 home designs, specifications (and building codes) Indoors, large windows welcome in natural light. In Chicago, Richard Sears had an equally disruptive idea. The book details the 60 most popular designs (of the 375 designs Sears produced) with original catalog drawings and contemporary pictures. with a few candidates with an expert like Thornton might see immediately as probable or improbable Sears Catalog Houses. I hope Sears has the common sense to donate those materials rather than throw them away.Thanks for this! For readers whose Sears Kit home used Sears Goodwall plasterboard as a plaster base (in stead of wood or wire lath) you might be able to find a "Goodwall Sheet Plaster" stamped on the wall-cavity side of the rock lath and you might notice that the rock-lath sections were usually 4' x 4' - unlike modern drywall and fiberboard products that were and are more-often 4' x 8' or longer. Only one image can be added per comment but you can post as many comments, and therefore images, as you like. Thornton rattles off some statistics about Sears Catalog homes and Price: $649,900 Horse haven:This 1932 catalog home sits on nearly 7 acres of fenced horse property. Most of the interior has been untouched other than the kitchen, which was remodeled by the previous owner (son of the builder) - the woodwork and detail is truly beautiful! description of this home at 15 N. Remsen, Wappingers Falls, NY. The list, below, gives you model names and addresses of 80 houses that we have located in the St. Louis area. Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Enthusiasts call the Magnolia the "holy grail of kit houses." (Photo: Courtesy Andrew and Wendy Mutch) This past . Do you know the city and state? They are classic. and this 1941 ALADDIN KIT HOME CATALOG (see for example the Brentwood, Brewser, Bristol, and Norfolk model Aladdin homes) GUIDE TO KIT HOUSES AND HOMES it has a small enclosed front porch. On 2022-01-17 1924. For nearly 100 years the home has been meticulously cared for and features hardwood flooring, enclosed front porch, and renovated kitchen. In short, it's a house whose blueprints and building supplies were ordered from a specialty Sears catalog, and all of these supplies were shipped, by rail (primarily), to the homeowner (who either chose to build the house himself, or use a contractor to arrange the construction). Also see this Sears Milford Kit home from the same 1933-1940 period: (Model No. Want even more free resources? A highly modified Sunbeam model Sears Modern (we think) this house also had a tasteful, adult hip renovation that looks like a Southern Home spread brought to life. As you've indicated, you already have some helpful information from your home. InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. 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. 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. 35 Point St., New Hamburg, NY, a 936 sq.ft. Located in NYS Adirondack region. More difficult to find in some homes is the definitive stamp/stencil letter-number identification on framing lumber and trim, but it is often there for the diligent inspector, for example on. 1931. would a S&R house have had bead board on all walls and ceilings?? My home was built in 1915 , an addition was built on in the 1980s , but I believe the original home was from a kit. Zillow says it was built in 1939 and the original square footage was 1,362 (before additions were made). NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61, Aladdin Homes. Do look carefully for a stencil marks and do look at some of the hardware details that we give in the articles that I recommended to you. The sheets were made of pressed wood pulp and cost 46 cents per sheet. Some Vintage Kit Homes Now Sell for Over $1 Million. At least, we think this is a Wabash. Hello! 8/9. was so identified and its history written in a Poughkeepsie Journal article in 1990. 1936. Each of the links in this section shows a photo with additional details of the interior of a Sears Kit Home. 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. by Inspectapedia Com Moderator. There are part number stenciled on the boards. And give us the country and city of location of the home. If My House Is Not A Kit, Then Where Did It Come From?? Sears kit houses were built from 1908-1942 (see this blog post for substantiation of the 1942 date, and this follow up article), and the models offered by Sears followed the design trends of those decades. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 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. Used within a coal room door handle. Homes Q&A: : Does Sears Holdings give permission to reproduce catalog pages or images from its catalogs, and or other . Ohio and Illinois are still leading, though, with 2700+ and 2300+, respectively. Our client traced the sale and construction of the home to 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 (. However, we do work with a select group of software companies and service providers that we feel provide real value for our readers. I do have the original receipt, but it does not list the name of the company. Kit homes used drywall, asphalt shingles, and "balloon" style. 1917. 1. The Close has a policy of fierce editorial independence. The homes are located in Ortega, Murray Hill, and Fairfax Manor neighborhoods, and Jacksonville Historical Society historian-at-large Wayne Wood said Wednesday they represent an important part of American history. This home is in Dansville, NY and was built in 1930. 1935. Unless you have developed a really good eye for recognizing the several-hundred models offered by Sears, for example, youd never know what house on a block with a kit house mixed in with other 1920s or 30s houses, was from a kit from Sears. They were hoping to meet the needs and desires of the same folks who were buying from the lumber companies. Sears homes can be found across the continental United States. I'll be interested if you find any indication of just how widely plaster-lath construction was used in kit homes; our rock-lath article cited above gives some history, though not specific to kit homes; we need authoritative sources on the extent to which rock-lath or sheet-plaster systems were in wide use in North America before the 1940s. A Sears Castleton model with 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dining room, kitchen and tiny den just past the vestibule entry. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. Above is the original catalog Sears homes came in all shapes and sizes, and this Colonial hits a sweet spot with four bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms spanning nearly 4,000 . That includes both finding specific stamps, lumber marks, or hardware in your particular house that confirm it as a Sears kit home and also paging through the Sears kit home catalogs we list to match that hipped gable roof design and entry porch. Americans anywhere could flip through the four-pound, 1,400-page . 73 m 1 2. For this week's listing of the week, we decided to find seven charming Sears Catalog homes you can actually buy today. Thank you for the resources. 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. While it's absolutely true that Sears Modern Homes house kits were shipped by train, in several box-car loads, by rail, I think that the whole concept of the railroad being part of the story, has been greatly misunderstood. One of the most fascinating parts of the story, is that the framing lumber was (in most cases) pre-cut and labeled, allowing the homebuilder to follow an instruction booklet to help in the organized construction process. We settled on Vallonia, because of the awning, but the porch and columns are all wrong. Can you tell me if I am right ? On 2021-12-22 It was said to be in the original Chicago worlds fair. Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold about 100,000 kit houses from catalogs between 1908 and 1942. The backyard is great for entertaining, and the Florida climate allows for the space to be . The American Foursquare house, defined by its distinctive cube shape and hip roof, was popular in the 1890-1930s, especially for its affordability. Year Built: 1902 Listing Agent: Wally Kerr Listing Brokerage: Kerr Team Real Estate, Admittedly, this next listing gave us a fun puzzle to solve while we were trying to figure out its provenance. Download Our Free E-book. a complete school or office building. Here are some tips for how to make this career choice work for you. Three neighbors - three Sears catalog homes were built in a row by Wappingers grocer Adolph Von Vorstel on N. Remsen Ave. in Wappingers Falls. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. Included in the overall purchase, were all elements needed for the house, from lumber to roofing; wiring and plumbing; windows and door knobs, and hinges and nails and screws; staircases and all of their parts, pre-mitered; flooring, bath tubs and sinks and faucets; kitchen cabinets and ironing boards; window screens, window shades, and light fixtures.
