Prefab homes arent exactly an exotic concept nowadays. The houses, comprising eight models, were all built in a 12-block area known as the Standard Addition. CNDDB Maps and Data - California Department of Fish and Wildlife Charleston, West Virginia is a hotspot for Sears model homes, in addition to Aladdin and Montgomery Ward homes. I now live in St. Louis, Missouri, and am sometimes asked if there are any Sears houses here. Sales slowly recovered as the United States emerged from the Great Depression until 1940. Argyles also have a tendency to hide. The CNDDB is comprised of two data components: Text information and spatial information. More than 100 years of stories, product and brand histories, photographs, catalog images and more are now available online. 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. Another key figure in the original research into Sears kit houses, was a woman named Beatrice Lask. They produced three different product lines based on budget: the high-end Honor Bilt homes, Standard Built homes that were popular with young families, and Simplex Sectional low-budget homes that were mostly used as vacation cottages. 110 (, 1524 2nd Street, La Porte, Indiana earliest version of the Sears No. 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. We found and listed about three houses, I think but didn't really focus on La Porte much more than that day in 2015. From 1931-1942 Sears sold about 5,000 houses altogether. This is a complete list of Sears houses in Aurora (and two in Montgomery that were originally in Aurora). There were about 132 million people by the time Sears stopped selling Sears Modern Homes kits in 1940. . Depending on where you live, the thought of just building a small or medium sized house can sound totally bizarre or perhaps totally doable if youve got miles and miles of wide open space to work with. As its mail-order catalogs were already sent to millions of homes, Sears had a distinct advantage over other kit-home competitors. 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. 159 examples that have a closed pediment in the gable (and a porch style difference). The two-story schoolhouse was priced at $11,500 and its design included six classrooms, a library, an auditorium, and a superintendent's office. She said she didnt know the house was built from a kit ordered from a catalog until after she bought it. Some of the most popular models were:[12], The largest and one of the most expensive Sears models was the Magnolia. 172/ Hazelton, at 810 W 11th Street, La Porte, Indiana. 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. People always seemed surprised to learn that Sears sold home kits. Because the Modern Homes division sales records were destroyed, there is no way to definitively verify the number of Sears houses that still exist. Harbst said many of the original features in her home are intact and the exterior remains mostly unchanged. *Sears Americus - Temple, PA*It's been about 3 months since the last update website, which was published from Oct 2013 to Nov 2014. In fact, the No. 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. This Sears mail-order house named The Crescent was built in Munhall in 1920, according to owner Molly Harbst. So, each house that we find through these records, represents a great deal of digging, and lots of amassed knowledge in how to attack the task because each county's records system is a little different than others. Her parents did not care much for the house and eventually moved back into their original farmhouse. 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. According to Betcone, the two models that were the top sellers for Sears in 1930 totaled just over 100 houses a year. If those were the top sellers, no model could catch the Argyle at that rate. presentation, nows your chance! All these years later it is still a fortress.. to you on Flickr or Pinterest. Some builders and companies purchased houses directly from Sears to build as model homes, speculative homes, or homes for customers or employees. So, I've added an asterisk next to the addresses of these possible No. The bulk order is the largest known order for Sears Modern Homes and led to Sears, Roebuck naming their "Carlin" model after the city. The iron strapping itself can be strait or curved, but the curlicue is always there, if it's iron strapping from Sears. contacting them by clicking on their name. The kit was greatly modified by Lane's ambitious designs. But David Betcone told us what model was in first place as of 1931. 217 was not shown with an in-house bathroom. But Matthew has a way of pulling everything together and spitting out a coherent comparative analysis with visuals that helps us see what we hadn't noticed previously. If your house was built between 1908-1940, theres a chance it might be an original Sears house. The American Lumberman article referred to this area where the houses were being built, as the Fairview neighborhood. People need move-in ready housing and they need it fast, whether single professionals are seeking apartments and luxury condos or families need affordable freestanding houses. True to the companys roots in selling to rural Midwesterners, they even had a catalog for farmhouses, barns, and other barn buildings. 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. Marie gives the perfect explanation of our Sears House hunt, in this. Click on any of the linked house listings to view a picture . Sears mail-order homes prove plentiful in Western Pennsylvania 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. small-town America, 1920! 306 Highland, Madison, WI. I have seen articles throughout the years about Sears homes in the Pittsburgh area, she wrote after reading the Trib story. houses that share a name also share either a number, a floor plan or had It was just recently sold again earlier this year. Sometimes the legal description is nice and straightforward, like, "lot 15, block C, Tanglewood Estates, in the town of Dunham". Ruth's Beauty Parlor: A Sears No. How Many Sears Houses Are Still Out There? Chabot said while Sears wasnt the first or only company to sell mail-order homes, they were unique among the competition. . 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. national database of sears homes - dowdcreative.com According to a review written by Mary Ann O'Boyle of Takoma Park, Maryland, her Sears home feels "unabashedly American, the kind of house you see in movies about the good old days" and "allows me to connect with the past". An open floor plan with sensible . It mightve been easier to get a job or start a business off the bat compared to the hoops and bureaucracy we have for both these days, but there was no U-Haul or Pods to make moving easier. Thanks! I see you posted about the origins of Hollywood three years ago! Sears Modern Homes are something we totally need to bring back from the past for this. These pre-1916 houses are generally considered "catalog houses", not "kit houses". However, in La Porte, we've also found five examples* of houses that look like a great match for the No. when you switch jobs, buy a house, and go on an international trip, all Harbst said it wasnt until after she bought the house that she learned homes were once sold through mail-order catalogs. Some of these homes were based on models offered in the Sears Modern Homes catalog. BMO Celebrates Kickoff of the 2023 Soccer Season at 'BMO Stadium' in The Sears Argyle was named after Argyle Street in Chicago. Not all Sears houses became private residences. Andrew is responsible for adding hundreds (and hundreds) of Sears houses to our database, especially in the Maryland suburbs of D.C., in numerous counties in Michigan, and a gold mine of houses in Westchester County, New York, especially in Yonkers. Measuring in at a roomy 3,500 square feet, the . If my house is not a kit, where did it come from? My father knew the local builder (Mr. Humphreys) who put the house together. So this blog has been radio silent for a while now! Sears Modern Homes were sold between 1908 and 1942. This picture came from an original set of Sears "Honor Bilt" blueprints. They produced three different product lines based on budget: the high-end Honor Bilt homes, Standard Built homes that were popular with young families, and Simplex Sectional low-budget homes that were mostly used as vacation cottages. Images are available But the houses don't match any of the designs that Sears sold in their catalogs. The company was forced to liquidate $11 million in defaulted debt. 181, and the early version of the. Photo from Realtor site. 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. To drum up business, Sears issued a press release to newspapers across the United States. There was one snippet in the press release that only a couple newspapers reprinted: "Following twelve years of usefulness, one old design was removed from the home catalogue in 1928, as antiquated after having been constructed more than 1700 times, which probably constitutes the world's record for any construction duplication from a single house plan, he [Betcone] says.". Stamped lumber: Most easily found in unfinished spaces like a basement or attic, framing members were stamped with a letter and a number. 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. 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. 920 North Madison Avenue, Anderson, Indiana Asking: $379,900 Sears Roebuck Model: Elmhurst Year Built: 1932 Listing Agent: Julie Armington Listing Brokerage: F.C. Because of the economics after 1931, I can say I am. In areas where the land is already mostly developed and zoned, its not that simple. 4120 Adams St., Gary, IN. My home reminds me of that type of architecture.. Referred to as a gable-front-and-wing, it was a national folk style that owed much of its heritage to the earlier Greek Revival style. But who knows, maybe well see tiny shipping container homes in a museum someday after we take back the rest of the real estate after the revolution. We thought it might be of interest to those readers to point out some more of the history of Sears houses in the greater Pittsburgh area, said Chabot, whose family still owns a Sears Silverdale model home in Northampton, Mass., that was built by her great-grandparents in 1911. 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? You'll also notice that the No. [4] Other homeowners relied on local carpenters or contractors to assemble the houses. The nine easy signs follow: 1) Look for stamped lumber in the basement or attic. 5 Jun. R.L. Hunter Press: Mail Order House Research Here is the Uriel or Conway at 408 Bond Street. by . Pre-cut lumber reduced construction time by up to 40%, according to Sears. The last Sears Modern Homes catalog was issued in 1940. 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). Today, those marks can help prove that you have a kit home. The houses made it as far as Alaska and Canada, as the parts were delivered by railroad. Another old model found predominantly in that Lakeview area, was the. Simply put, life was rougher. Weve got so much fucking housing just sitting there that NO ONE should be condemned to homelessness. 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. rebeccahunter1216@gmail.com. Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940, though sales through local sales offices continued into 1942. Click here. This Sears mail-order kit home in McCandless is owned by Normajean Moser. While financing through Sears helped many homeowners purchase homes, many of those purchasers defaulted during the ensuing Great Depression. Its not like nowadays where you move, wait for your stuff to arrive, and if youre a work-at-home like me, youre pretty much unable to work while you wait for a technician to ensure you have Internet access. website, which was published from Oct 2013 to Nov 2014. If you are a Historical Society interested in awarding plaques for specific homes understood to be Sears houses, please feel free to contact us to verify for you that the house does match a model offered in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs. It mightve been easier to get a job or start a business off the bat compared to the hoops and bureaucracy we have for both these days, but there was no U-Haul or Pods to make. This was the case with most of the compact pre-1920 Sears houses. While researching the property, Harbst learned it was among the first homes built in the boroughs Homestead Park neighborhood. But what if you want something bigger than a tiny house, but not as gargantuan as the average American single family home? 1232 click. Thanks for giving me a new appreciation for the Argyle! Construction of the houses took nine months which were completed in 1919. A Newport Beach home remains dangerously close to tumbling down a cliffside after the ground underneath gave way on Friday morning. A Gilded Mansion in Newport Beach, CA (Unreal), Fallen Titan that is Sears department stores. Please contact me if you would like a free Open to the public. 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. 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). Andrew spotted these two houses right next to each other, on W 11th Street: a No. Remember when Sears sold houses? See some of Ann Arbor's kit homes - mlive We just can't say, because we can't access those records. In their own way, houses with Craftsman-style design elements often managed their own form of ebullient excess such as Modern Home No. They kept up with it, of course, but it sure has good bones. 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. Here is the catalog image, from the 1911/12 catalog: And here are two examples in La Porte.