When You could order/build a house ordered from Sears

[packman]

Sear's home archival catalogue of homes from 1918 to 1940. A lot of home.



More homes and plans at:

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm

[Egnever]

1. The extras are cool

Hot air heating plant!
Steam heating plant!

I wonder what those cost at the nursery now...

[jberryhill]

2. and Roebuck

I realize Roebuck gets screwed later on, but some people still called it Sears & Roebuck long after they dropped Roebuck.

[grasswire]

3. I have been in one of those houses.

In the old mansion district of Helena Montana. Beautiful, beautiful home.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Someone just restored one their great-grandfather built...

http://imgur.com/mir1r6o

[Laura PourMeADrink]

5. How cool....thanks for sharing !

[lonestarnot]

6. 1140.00. Wouldn't even put a shingle on a mini house these days. How things have changed.

[Fresh_Start]

7. I restored this one

http://www.antiquehomestyle.com/plans/sears/1923sears/23sears-glendale.htm

first house my husband and I bought.
Couldn't afford much.
When we toured the house...there was an engine block sitting in the living room.
I'm sure they had to cart away truckloads worth of trash since we required it broom clean for closing.


We found a still in the attic.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. That is a wonderful house! Love the porch!

[gratuitous]

8. Many of those homes are still standing

My friend lived in Elgin, Illinois for a while and on a little walking tour around town, he pointed out several houses that were "kit" houses. Some of them were in fairly nice neighborhoods.

[PSPS]

9. And each "kit" came with all the nails, screws, and even a tree for the yard!

[Wellstone ruled]

10. Yup,first house a 1929 Tutor.

We found the original Sears order and bill of adding when we bought it in 1967. Framed it and gave it to the new owners in 1997. Understand the now owners have that same picture hanging on the wall in the Formal Dining Room.

[SheilaT]

11. All of them are very well designed,

and would be highly livable even today. Modern families expect more bathrooms and more closet space, but those could be added.

[JustAnotherGen]

20. We bought a custom arts and crafts

Home built in 1909 - even the custom ones didn't have enough closet space. We have the original floor plans from our historical society and the long narrow bedroom had already been reduced for a bathtub in the 1950s - so we lost the room altogether expanded our bath and now have a walk in closet in our bedroom.

We looked at McMansions but . . . My 12 foot high ceilings, arched doorways, trim around doors, gingerbread trim in our kitchen-family room Windows beat cathedral ceilings and recessed lighting. Yeah I have crazy hallways - but worth it for the back staircase.

I absolutely love this house.

[awoke_in_2003]

13. That is a great porch

When it comes to porches, modern houses suck.

[denbot]

14. I lived next to one in Soccoro NM

A guy named Johnathon and his family had been taken loving care with it. The house had arrived in early 191x, on a single flatbed rail car. The "kit" came with roof beams, windows, fixtures, doorjams, plumbing, wiring, everything, even down to the nails.

Amazon has nothing on Sears and Robuck back in the day..

[jmowreader]

15. Many subdivisions were created with Sears homes

Sears homes came to you by train. Developers who were building Sears Home subdivisions would buy land next to a rail line, which drastically cut down on handling costs at the developers' end of the line.

[mnhtnbb]

16. What is known as The Sisters' House in Chapel Hill is a Sears home

The twin sisters have lived there for a very long time. They turned 100 this year.
What's really special about their home is their garden. In the spring they put out a sign, "The Garden is Open"
and anyone is invited to walk through the yard to admire the garden. They obviously no longer do their own
gardening. Some years ago they started having neighborhood children plant the huge numbers of tulip bulbs
they put in each fall--each child marks where s(he) planted-- and can return in the spring to see what blooms.

I did some photos of the garden this year in early April. This one shows the house.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. What a gorgeous garden!

And a very nice house, too! Thanks for posting this!

[mnhtnbb]

19. Yes, it is.

You're welcome.




A link if anyone is interested in more about their house and garden.

http://wunc.org/post/how-johnny-cash-tulip-and-99-year-old-twin-sisters-make-spectacular-garden#stream/0

[Rhiannon12866]

21. Thank you! I'm very interested!

I took three semesters of architecture (art history) in college. That's the kind of art that fascinates me the most! And the spectacular garden makes it all the more special...

[Rhiannon12866]

24. I didn't realize until I took a second look, but I'm familiar with WUNC!

I used to be responsible for their TV listings, LOL. I worked for a company that produced the TV listings for newspapers throughout the country (and other places) and the newspapers in that part of NC were my "turf!"

[mnhtnbb]

25. .

WUNC is one of the good things about the state of NC which is currently putting its worst foot forward with HB 2.

[Rhiannon12866]

28. I've actually spent quite a bit of time there,

But in the Western part of the state. My grandmother retired to Black Mountain, near Asheville, so I was down there quite a bit. That's a beautiful area and my grandmother made some amazing friends. And Black Mountain - and of course Asheville - are just great places to be. I liked it so much that I actually thought of relocating. The weather's a whole lot better, too. We're from Northeastern New York.

[JustAnotherGen]

18. We have a few in my town

S & R did an excellent job of making the Arts and Crafts style affordable for the many.

[Cooley Hurd]

22. I'd by a Sears House before I'd buy a ranch.

Great post! Love the Sears Houses!!!

[Adrahil]

23. Years ago, one of my colleagues lived in a Sears house.

It was a cool little house!

[Kip Humphrey]

26. We lived in a Sears house in Baltimore for several years.

[doc03]

27. There is one across the highway from me, a couple years ago the

people remodeled it and added a couple rooms it is downright ugly now. My neighbor told me what if cost at the time
don't remember now but it was under $1000.

[Recursion]

29. My great-grandmother built one on Irving, TX

At what was then the very outskirts of town, near the railroad, at the end of where even the dirt road stopped (it's now 6th St, for anybody who knows Irving, and not remotely the outskirts of town). Sadly the house burned down a few years ago