On 2022-04-20 by Inspectapedia Com Moderator. Harris Brothers Company, Chicago, Illinois. Offices Locations.jpg download. Between 1908 and 1940, Sears provided house kits. "It's the most perfect Sears Magnolia . It has a sears name plate in basement. 2 Additions later and its still standing. By downloading, youll automatically subscribe to our weekly newsletter. 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. 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. Maybe evidence that our Sears model spotting skills are improving, or maybe because of the distinctive peaked entryway and side porch, we immediately pegged 319 Sycamore as a Glen Falls. We pinpointed nine models from across the country that still stand tall as a testament to American ingenuity. Because the homes were so easy to tailor to their owners tastes, true Sears Modern Homes can be tricky to identify today. Asking: $475,000 Sears Modern Homes Model: Vallonia (?) when i moved to MD and bought a house, my boss at the time gave me a going away/housewarming gift that consisted of a very fancy and comprehensive hammacher schlemmer tool kit, and a $100 GC to home depot. Let us know in the comments! Ssrah. The materials were reportedly shipped in via railroad as a package. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. Any ideas about the model of this home? While I have expanded, edited, and illustrated this list based on our own field experience, and we have added photographs and other details, this material has its origin in Thornton's books What year and style home? One of the surviving Sears kit homes stands along Oak Springs Road in Chartiers Township. Try the search box just below, or if you prefer, post a question or comment in the Comments box below and we will respond promptly. New York state is 4th, with 1,679 houses found. the author of books on identifying Sears houses, cited at REFERENCES below, and Item #1 is a great reference catalog of home designs, 613.3K . 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. Sears heavily promoted these large sales in their advertising materials. 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. That last house in Boulder, Colorado is a perfect example of the 1920s version of the Sears Oakdale, not the Clyde. This is a great resource for people in the St. Louis area. 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. @Karen Marsh, by Matthew Mackowiak. Square Footage: 1,356. The house was financed through Sears which along with interior details helped authenticate that its from Sears. Thank you so much. Daniel Friedman, Rosemary Thornton. So far we haven't found Sears identifying marks, but will be renovating the basement soon and will be able to look more closely. 1924 Bowers Beach, Delaware. The renovation expanded the homes footprint to four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and more than 2,000 square feet. 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. @Carlyn, Or use the SEARCH BOX found below to Ask a Question or Search InspectApedia, Questions & answers or comments about Sears kit homes: sources, history, identification, repair, inspection. Like many houses with a history of incomplete insulation and dormers with flashing failures at the dormer wall-to-roof juncture, there are often visible in the attic of both Sears Catalog and non-Sears homes of this design. That year, the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan, offered the first kit homes through mail order. She says from 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 kits nationwide, and more than 3,000 in the Cincinnati area. A local example of this is LaPorte, Indiana, where Sears sold 50 houses in one subdivision. List of kit home catalogs available at National Trust Library: Log Cabins. Continue to look for the kit house identification clues discussed above on this page and in this article series. Homes has been a family owned & operated home center. Between 1908 and 1940, Sears sold about 70,000 kit homes in 48 states through their mail-order Modern Homes program, with 370 designs that you might not readily recognize as a kit. I once owned a home in Houston Tx, which according to records was built in 1906 (Although the date could be a few years off either way) I am having difficulty confirming if this was a Sear kit home or a copy cat mfgr. Cairo had access to five railroad lines, and the Illinois Central line abutted the Sears plant. In 2005, a high-end Sears home sold for $900,000. Sold under the Sears Modern Homes brand, the kits soon became a huge hit; selling thousands of homes all across the country in the companys 33-year history. 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). NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61, Aladdin Homes. I work with a group that maintains the national database of Sears Modern Homes. To learn more about what houses we have found, where to learn more about Sears houses, how to find our blogs, and how to contact us for interviews or presentations, please follow the links available at the top of the page: The National List Authenticating Information & Education. 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 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. Well, what did you think of our picks of the best Sears Catalog Homes on the market? Excerpting from this new website: Download Our Free E-book. Are you able to tell me the model name is of the kit? The book details the 60 most popular designs (of the 375 designs Sears produced) with original catalog drawings and contemporary pictures. Wanted your thoughts as to could this be a kit house? Im looking for information pertaining to Robinsons Kits. @Dee, 1914. @Jessica, Do you know the city and state? which are definitely not Sears Catalog Houses are included in this list as a fun exercise for readers. Enthusiasts call the Magnolia the "holy grail of kit houses." (Photo: Courtesy Andrew and Wendy Mutch) This past . Presented at the Hudson Valley American Society of Home Inspectors HVASHI Annual Historic Homes Inspection-Seminar, Kingston, NY - cited at "References" below. When most people think of Sears catalog homes, they imagine Cape Cods or Craftsman style bungalows with columned porches. Sears Archives Home Page Sears Houses: This article series provides detailed photographic and historic clues to assist in after 1940. 562.0K . Of course, the home has been heavily modified from what we think its roots were as an Elmhurst model Sears catalog home, but that just adds to the charm, not to mention the square footage. 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. Number18. InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. These easy-to-assemble, mail-order homes were shipped across the United States and Canada, according to the Sears archives. tips and photos with this article. Once again, Sears has made history. a blog post about the Sears houses in Kirkwood, A few catalog covers (1918 through the 1920s) for. Your comment will appear after it has been previewed and approved by the blog author. In Alabama, dozens of historic homes are rumored to be kit houses but only a small percentage have been certified as . Though we don't search for them as diligently as we do Sears Modern Homes kit houses, we have found some kits from other kit-house companies of the same era, in the St. Louis area. We recommend those books for any owner or serious investigator of Sears Catalog homes. Sometimes, people will say. I am licensed in just Missouri and Kansas, however, I have a great network of agents with a few good ones in eastern Tennessee. 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. 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! which lacks the Sears identifying stencils on framing and other key details. Some early experiments by Sears included selling a kit to build 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. @Judy Gehrlich, Using the Sears numbering system, the contents of the railroad boxcars (typically Sears estimated that a plasterer would charge you $200, which included nailing up all those thin strips of lath and applying three coats of plaster (1916). The list, below, gives you model names and addresses of 80 houses that we have located in the St. Louis area. 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. The gorgeous 2-acre lot has plenty of room to expand. Please bookmark this page to make it easy for you to check back for our response. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7C22 1914, Wardway Homes, Montgomery Ward, Chicago, Illinois. The kit was dropped at a depot, not at a lot. Price: $179,900 Historic house:Built in 1911, this Sears home sits on a large, corner lot in a historic district, surrounded by antebellum homes. by InspectApedia (mod). 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. Please take a look there as that's more thorough than if I'm asked to make up that advice de-novo here. Also note how the large shed dormer comes off the ridge of the roof. 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. Thornton is also I'll try to post something. Hello, I know my friend's house was built from a kit but I'm trying to determine from which company the kit house was built by. 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? The first mail order for a Sears house was filled that year. 61 proven lead gen ideas from coaches & top-producing agents. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 239 W. Russell Street, Barrington, $949,000. These are listed here. In 1940 the last "official" Sears kit house was sold and shipped to its owner. Well, as fun as a puzzle can be under deadline I guess. at $500. Hipercor - hypermarkets; Spain. The answer to this question can be found on this Sears House Seeker blog post. When people say. i found this stamped on the inside of sheathing n a basement of a home I suspect is a kit house. The best place to start would be see catalog homes in Dutchess County, NY. @Sara, we'll look through our references to see what we can add to the Sears kit home notes above for those earlier models and will follow up here. 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. Our national database of Sears houses in the U.S. has over 13,600 homes on it, and, after Ohio and Illinois, Pennsylvania is #3 in U.S. states with, at today's count, 1,963 Sears homes found. @Amy, 1924. I appreciate the additional detail on lath that I had forgotten. ), This is a fantastic post! Rosemary Thornton I can't figure out what model this home is. Your planned basement project may very well give you added clues to your home's identification. The article gives lists of Sears kit home identification points or details and also lists of plan books and catalogs that one can leaf through. A 1925 Colonial-style home in Washington, D.C., that sold last year for $1.06 million had humble beginnings. Aladdin Homes. description of this home at 15 N. Remsen, Wappingers Falls, NY. 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. Indoors, large windows welcome in natural light. it has a small enclosed front porch. I havent found any other obvious stamps. Customers were given everything needed for basic assemblyincluding the nailsdelivered by rail, and most folks with adequate carpentry expertise could put up their new house in just a few days. Ohio and Illinois are still leading, though, with 2700+ and 2300+, respectively. They included location specifics and many photos. Sears kit homes contained 30,000 pieces, including 750 pounds of nails, 27 gallons of paint, and a 75-page instruction book. 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. detail which is still in place on a Sears house was unique to those homes and can help in their identification today, even though It helps to narrow that search through Sears home catalogs if you can find the year that your home was constructed. Number 37. 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. Hello, Im looking for help identifying my home. You can read more about them here, here, here, and here. 5 stars for john, the appliance guy. Each of the links in this section shows a photo with additional details of the interior of a Sears Kit Home. Price: $239,000 Converse Heights: Built in 1925, this three-bedroom, Arts and Craftsstyle home shines. Please use the add image button to post a photo or two of the home - one per comment. 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. Fiberboard could be used as a plaster base or painted, or simply left in its tan-brown color. Better yet, can you identify the model for the listings we couldnt quite get? 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. The original 1926 Sears & Roebuck label identifying the house at 115 Belleclaire Avenue in Longmeadow as a Sears kit house. This home is in Dansville, NY and was built in 1930. Are there old catalogs we can view to know whether this is a Sears Kit home? We recommend all three of these publications. also see our Aladdin kit homes and catalogs found at ). Details on the first floor indicate original to 1925 as the deed says. 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). Sears and all of the kit home manufacturers replicated popular house designs built before, during and after the kits themselves were available. In the early 20th century, Sears sold up to 75,000 mail-order homes (per NPR).In 1888, the Chicago-based company launched their first catalog.According to The Craftsman Blog, a variety of goods could be bought and delivered to the customer's front door.In 1908, however, the company decided to push the envelope; Sears was now going to sell and deliver houses via their Sears Modern Homes Catalog. 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. (See below for clarification on that concept. While the retailer is clinging to life amid a changing consumer landscape, many of the kit homes it designed and sold will stand long after the last Sears store closes. If My House Is Not A Kit, Where Did It Come From? Dimensions are also the same, and when we purchased it in 2018 from the grandson of the original owner/builder, he told us is a Sears house. 1910. 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. Thank you for the resources. The most complete answer to your question and advice on identifying kit hoes is found at KIT HOMES, Aladdin, Sears, Wards, Others.