I thought it was very interesting when I learned that you could also buy a house from their catalogs.. 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. I considered putting a full chart here, but, honestly, we have found hundreds through searching the suburban PA counties outside of Philadelphia. No built examples have been found of some of the least popular models. To see a variety of models similar to the Mitchell, that were offered during the kit-house era, see this article. Sears Modern Homes offered more than 370 designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes over the line's 34-year history. So, they are likely from Sears. Price: $179,900. Here is the catalog image, from the 1911/12 catalog: And here are two examples in La Porte. Were most Sears Houses built by the owners? Harbst said many of the original features in her home are intact and the exterior remains mostly unchanged. The houses made it as far as Alaska and Canada, as the parts were delivered by railroad. Here is the Uriel or Conway at 408 Bond Street. Its kind of exciting to learn that your home is unique because of the way it was bought and constructed, she said. And, shortly after me, came Karen DeJeet, a Pittsburgh resident who learned of Sears houses when she found out that she lived in one (the. It's likely that other Sears models can be traced to him as well. This Sears mail-order kit home in McCandless is owned by Normajean Moser. You can clearly see a major difference on this side of the houses. She said she didnt know the house was built from a kit ordered from a catalog until after she bought it. Without facts and sales records, we can make an educated guess. 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. Call me a cynic, but I often wonder why kit houses were not stolen. That's what happens . While the bathroom and kitchen of this 1920 Sears mail-order house in Munhall called The Crescent have been updated, most of the homes original features remain unchanged, said owner Molly Harbst, who learned it was among the first homes built in her Homestead Park neighborhood. 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. Betcone spoke of how housing styles were drastically changing and how many customers wanted more efficient, streamlined designs. After all, future generations became more transient out of circumstance or in light of the digital nomad movement and taking advantage of technology in general, more mobile by choice. You usually just left with the clothes on your back and a few trunks, and that was it. Normajean Moser of McCandless owns a Walton model that was purchased from the Sears Modern Home catalog. Melissa Steel of Patterson Heights in Beaver County said the story about the Sears house in McCandless sparked fond memories of the family next door who lived in one for many years. Sometimes the legal description is nice and straightforward, like, "lot 15, block C, Tanglewood Estates, in the town of Dunham". Search. I saw a recent article in The Star Ledger about Sears Homes that mentioned your blog. by . We certainly imagine that the houses have been retro-fitted with one, at this point. What was up with this particular model of home building, and are there any original Sears houses left? 920 North Madison Avenue, Anderson, Indiana Asking: $379,900 Sears Roebuck Model: Elmhurst Year Built: 1932 Listing Agent: Julie Armington Listing Brokerage: F.C. 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). 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). Because lets get real: those adorable and affordable ranchers were only for CERTAIN veterans and their families. 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. The houses made it as far as Alaska and Canada, as the parts were delivered by railroad. This was the case with most of the compact pre-1920 Sears houses. 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. Hi, Lauren! While I'm at it, I'll tell you a bit about our mission, as a research team. Andrew Mutch ran across that same article in the American Lumberman, and posted in our group, asking if anyone was interested in looking for some of the old models that might be around. homes for rent in laplace 70068. national database of sears homes. 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. I have the Farnum in New Brighton PA. 1929. This site is a tribute to the original Sears Houses in Cincinnati 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. 2023 Trib Total Media | All Rights Reserved. One Magnolia built in Lincoln, Nebraska, was demolished in 1985. Sears Modern Homes are something we totally need to bring back from the past for this. 168/Matoka, 301 Weller Avenue, La Porte, Indiana probable Sears Modern Home No. 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). 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. Here is one at 17 Hill Street, Villa Park. [37] Similiar references are made to boyhood homes of Richard Nixon and Warren Buffett. 172/ Hazelton, at 810 W 11th Street, La Porte, Indiana. Powered by, Table of Sears Houses in La Porte, Indiana. It was built in 1917. Researching Historic Kit and Plan Book Homes. Instead, shipping labels were affixed to the backside of trim that identified properties. House was moved to Carbondale, CO in about 1972, Still trying to find more info.. This one, too, looks pretty much like just a taller version of the Greenview/115 and the Rossville/171, from the front and porch side of the house so, it was another mystery, as to what to look for on the other side of the house. 126 and a Sears No. While researching the property, Harbst learned it was among the first homes built in the boroughs Homestead Park neighborhood. The new owner was a Sears House fan - even produced a short doc film about the house and how she updated it. This system used precut timber of mostly standard sizes (2"x4" and 2"x8") for framing. Simply put, life was rougher. However, many houses described as Sears Homes are not true Sears Homes, being either the product of another kit home manufacturer or not a kit home at all. I don't know the model, but it was a 2 story - 6 room house - 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, living room, dining room, and very small galley type kitchen. Sears houses could also be ordered with reversed floor plans. Local Sears house enthusiast Karen DeJeet, who owns a Hamilton model in Forest Hills and is a member of the Sears House Finder team, has already done much of the work identifying the mail-order homes still standing in the region. Chabot focuses her research on scouring mortgages and deed records, old newspaper articles and other sources to identify kit homes sold by Sears. Open to the public. , there were about 88.7 million people living in the United States. But articles are so scattered by time, date and location that it is difficult to realize the scope and number of Sears homes here in the Pittsburgh area.. Tasty Soft Garlic and Herb Bread Sticks Recipe How to Make it in 23 Simple Steps, Villa Faberge! [7] Early mortgage loans were typically for 5 to 15 years at 6% to 7% interest. Sears is estimated to have sold about 70,000 of their home building kits from 1908-1940 and its currently estimated that. 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. 159 examples that have a closed pediment in the gable (and a porch style difference). My daughter and son-in-law have a 1924 Homeville in Abington! As some areas begin to see population booms, such as the tech triangle region of Raleigh, Durham, and Cary as more companies and tech talent make exodus from California and New York based on what I hear from taxi drivers and my university contacts in the region at games conferences every year? Lg Refrigerator Temperature Min Max, Cardinal Health 2017 Annual Report, How To Cook Lettuce Indian Style, Friday Brushed Canvas Extra Slipcovers, Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant Menu, Thekkady Tourist Places In Tamil, How To Get A Job At Target, , Cardinal Health 2017 Annual Report, How To Cook Lettuce Indian Style, Friday Brushed Canvas Extra Please contact me if you would like a free Sears offered 370 models over the 32 years it sold houses by catalog. that ranged from simple and rustic to utterly decadent. 171's porch roof (when it is a partial porch) connects to the house far to the right side of that upper window and then has a wedge-shape side part to that roof, so that both models end the porch just to the edge of the front door, but with a very different treatment to the shape of the porch roof there. To drum up business, Sears issued a press release to newspapers across the United States. In the story, homeowner Alicia Dallago said she had no idea the home she bought in 1998 was built from a kit. Checklist Search provides a simple and fast way to generate a pre-formatted checklist suitable for printing. Looking at the sorry state of Americas rail infrastructure today, this also makes me weep although today theyd just be delivered via truck. 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. For this week's listing of the week, we decided to find seven charming Sears Catalog homes you can actually buy today. After several years, Sears also began assigning names to the various models. 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. Simple theme. One of the biggest questions that researchers have been wanting to answer is: What is the Top-Selling Sears House of All Time? 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? national database of sears homes. TribLIVE's Daily and Weekly email newsletters deliver the news you want and information you need, right to your inbox. Sold for 12 years and discontinued in 1928. If my house is not a kit, where did it come from? The company was forced to liquidate $11 million in defaulted debt. Thanks! People always seemed surprised to learn that Sears sold home kits. 181, Sears No. Photo from Realtor site. Chabot runs a national website dedicated to gathering and sharing information about Sears mail-order homes. You can search the house listings by clicking on a group of years ( 1908-1914 , 1915-1920 , 1921-1926 , 1927-1932 and 1933-1940 ). "Our national database of Sears houses in the U.S. has over 13,500 homes on it, and, after Ohio and Illinois, Pennsylvania is No. [4] Other homeowners relied on local carpenters or contractors to assemble the houses. Rebecca lives in Elgin, Illinois, and undertook a huge research project, to find, and document, kit houses in that town. My home reminds me of that type of architecture.. Sears began offering financing plans around 1912. 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. You can see that La Porte, Indiana is mentioned as one of the "built at" locations: We found four examples of what we believe to be the model No. There were less people, but quality housing that could get built easily was a must for the quickly-growing population as World War I veterans came home and started families, and an immigration boom was taking place. Her parents did not care much for the house and eventually moved back into their original farmhouse. Precut lumber was cut to the appropriate lengths and angles based on where the framing timber would be used in the house. The kit was greatly modified by Lane's ambitious designs. national database of sears homes. If any of you have ever been interested in coming to see me do a kit home 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. Shipping label image from my mother's family's 1911 Sears No. The suburbs of Philadelphia are not the only places where we find Sears houses, by the way. If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. I don't feel comfortable making that assumption. 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. easier. Although it is sometimes claimed that no Sears kit homes were built after 1940, Sears continued to offer pre-cut kit homes through 1941 and into early 1942. Here are both of these models in the 1911/12 Sears Modern Homes catalog. So Betcone gave us a huge clue as to what the top seller for Sears was. Damn, it was like Stardew Valley! Or, perhaps we have background information about it to share with you!Judith. , in addition to Aladdin and Montgomery Ward homes. within a fe A very special, authenticated Aladdin home just hit the market in Takoma I-79 restrictions begin Wednesday night in Allegheny County, West Deer firefighters respond to bedroom fire, heavy smoke at Poplar Street home, Man shot dead in McKeesport the 4th slaying this week and 5th in a month, Medical examiner IDs man killed in McKeesport shooting, Report on Allegheny County Jail deaths finds no 'trends or common factors' that led to them, Historic Hempfield cemetery seeks volunteers, donors to help care for grounds, 2nd annual 'Restaurant Ramble' features 10 downtown New Kensington eateries, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan actor, dies after brain aneurysm, TV Talk: Mel Brooks History of the World, Part II belatedly arrives on Hulu, Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source, story about a 1922 Sears mail-order home in McCandless, number of those homes are featured on the organizations website. Residential construction was drastically down nationwide due to the Great Depression. How Many Sears Houses Are Still Out There? And it led me to dig a little deeper into the history of my community.. 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. Lara and Cindy were joined by Andrew Mutch, who is based out of his own Sears house, in Novi, Michigan. I grew up in a Sears house located in Keyport NJ. And Sears Modern Homes werent a monolith. Through those two resources, we can see not only kit-house catalogs, but also lumber-yard plan books, which offered house plans to those who were building their homes, in the 19-teens through 1930s, in the traditional method, of hiring a contractor, and buying the building resources locally. The builder was W.L. However, based on what the experts said in that Atlas Obscura piece, youre most likely to find Sears homes in places where railroad stations once stood (or are lucky to still have) and where Sears factories had a major role on the local economy, like Cincinnati. In it, they included excerpts from an interview with David S. Betcone, who was the chief architect for Sears at the time. 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.

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