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42-436: The hallmarks of the vernacular include a basically square, boxy design, two-and-one-half stories high, usually with four large, boxy rooms to a floor (with the exception of the attic floor, which typically has only one or two rooms), a center dormer , and a large front porch with wide stairs. The boxy shape provides a maximum amount of interior room space, to use a small city lot to best advantage. Other common features included

84-430: A hipped roof , arched entries between common rooms, built-in cabinetry, and Craftsman-style woodwork. A typical design would be as follows: first floor , from front to back, on one side, the living room and dining room ; while on the other side, the entry room or foyer, stairway and kitchen . Sometimes a bathroom was also included. Second floor, front to back, on one side, bedroom , bathroom and bedroom; while on

126-514: A Sears house was filled that year. As its mail-order catalogs were already sent to millions of homes, Sears had a distinct advantage over other kit-home competitors. As sales grew, Sears expanded its production, shipping, and sales offices to locations across the U.S. To provide the materials needed for the Modern Homes division, Sears operated a lumber mill in Cairo, Illinois . In 1912, Sears purchased

168-643: A habitable room. Sears Modern Homes Sears Modern Homes were houses sold primarily through mail order catalog by Sears, Roebuck and Co. , an American retailer . From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in North America, by the company's count. Sears Modern Homes were purchased primarily by customers in East Coast and Midwest states, but have been located as far south as Florida, as far west as California, and as far north as Alaska and Canada. No complete record of their locations

210-418: A particular catalog and kit home may require additional research to determine the origin of that home. In 1906, Frank W. Kushel, a Sears manager, was given responsibility for the catalog company's unwieldy, unprofitable building-materials department. Sales were down, and there was excess inventory languishing in warehouses. Kushel is credited with suggesting to Richard Sears that the company assemble kits of all

252-497: 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". Another homeowner, Erskine Hogue Stanberry, states that his Saratoga model was the "first house in Chelsea to have electric lights" and that they "are using the original plumbing and wiring". Several Sears Modern Homes are listed on

294-413: A team of skilled carpenters , as did previous methods. Balloon frames could be built faster and generally only required one carpenter. This system used precut lumber of mostly standard sizes ( 2"x4" and 2"x8") for framing. Balloon framing systems rely only on nails to make connections between joints, whereas previous methods used heavier members and pegs. The method was originally named in the sense that

336-407: Is named for the higher-waisted women's fashion of the time. Later Foursquares often had the same type of interiors as bungalows, with open floor plans, many built-ins, and fireplaces. Many examples are trimmed with tiled roofs, cornice-line brackets, or other details drawn from Craftsman, Italian Renaissance , or Mission architecture . The Foursquare was a popular mail-order era style along with

378-810: 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. Advertisements for Sears Modern Homes appeared through May 1942. Many of these post 1940 homes were based on models from the 1940 and earlier Sears catalogs but not all were, leading to debate over whether these homes qualify as "Sears Modern Homes". Because these homes were constructed using pre-cut lumber and plans provided by Sears, these homes can be considered to be "Sears Modern Homes". Many of these homes were built in Sears planned "Home Club Plan" developments in New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Sears offered roughly 370 models over

420-479: The California bungalow . When one was ordered, it came in a boxcar with a book of directions and all the parts pre-cut and numbered for self-assembly. These homes are particularly common in neighborhoods near rail-lines built in this era. The largest mail-order house catalog companies were Sears and Aladdin . Dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond

462-490: The Great Depression . While financing through Sears helped many homeowners purchase homes, a number of those purchasers defaulted during the ensuing Great Depression . The company was forced to liquidate $ 11 million in defaulted debt. The mortgage program was also a public relations disaster, as many of the families Sears foreclosed upon refused to do further business with the company. Sears stopped offering mortgages at

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504-522: The National Register of Historic Places . Among those are: Sears Modern Homes can also be found in historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places: There are examples of modern homes built based on the design of Sears Modern Home. In some cases, homeowners used plans from original Sears homes to recreate a modern version of a Sears home. In other cases, the home followed

546-523: The Standard Oil Company in 1918 to house its mineworkers at a total cost of about US $ 1 million. The houses, comprising eight models, were all built in a 12-block area known as the Standard Addition. Construction of the houses took nine months which were completed in 1919. The bulk order is the largest known order for Sears Modern Homes and led to Sears, Roebuck naming their "Carlin" model after

588-417: The 1908 Sears catalog offered a kit schoolhouse with the model name "Schoolhouse No. 5008". The two-story schoolhouse was priced at $ 11,500 (equal to $ 389,978 today) and its design included six classrooms, a library, an auditorium, and a superintendent's office. 1908 was the only year the schoolhouse appeared in the catalog. It is unknown whether any were purchased or built. There was no single architect for

630-399: The 32 years it sold houses by catalog, with an average of 80 to 100 models in each catalog. The models offered in each catalog varied each year, with some models remaining over long periods, and others appearing in only a few catalogs. In the early years, the models were identified with numbers. In 1918, Sears began assigning names to the various models. Some models were offered with variations,

672-414: The Modern Homes program, large quantities of asphalt shingles became available. Asphalt shingles were cheap to manufacture and ship, and easy and inexpensive to install. Sears also offered a plasterboard product similar to modern drywall (under the name Goodwall ) as an alternative to the plaster and lath wall-building techniques which required skilled carpenters and plasterers. This product offered

714-636: The Norwood Sash and Door Company in Norwood, Ohio (primarily used for fabrication of doors, windows, and other millwork), and, in 1926, opened their large lumber yard in Port Newark, NJ . The ability to mass-produce the materials used in Sears homes reduced manufacturing costs, which allowed Sears to pass along the savings in lower prices for customers. Precut framing lumber pieces, an innovation pioneered by Aladdin, were first offered by Sears in 1916. Precut lumber

756-414: The Sears designs. Many of the famous designs were commandeered from other sources and/or purchased from architects but given just enough change to be advertised as their own. Later on in the Modern Homes timeline, Sears had in-office designers but titled them as "experts" rather than actual architects. Identifying Sears Homes has become a pastime among history enthusiasts because of their sturdy structure,

798-417: The advantages of low price, ease of installation, and added fire protection. Local building requirements sometimes dictated that certain elements of the house construction be done professionally and varied depending on where the house was constructed. Sears began offering financing plans around 1912. Early mortgage loans were typically for 5 to 15 years at 6% to 7% interest. Sales peaked in 1929, just before

840-646: The city. Not all Sears houses became private residences. At Greenlawn Cemetery , near the Hampton Roads waterfront in the Newport News, Virginia , area, the cemetery office building is a 1936 Sears Modern Home. Like the Standard Addition in Carlinville, neighborhoods of Sears houses still hold a sense of identity and community. Due to reviews by homeowners then and now, it would appear that Sears Modern Homes are just as appreciated now as they were then. According to

882-526: The design was used everywhere. As with other styles in streetcar suburbs, it was tailored to relatively narrow lots, and was multi-story, allowing more square footage on a smaller footprint. The American Foursquare style is occasionally revived in new developments, although its appeal is as a "traditional-looking" style rather than a fully authentic one, often including modern two-car attached garages and other features absent in originals, and typically built on larger lots. The American Foursquare or "Prairie Box"

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924-529: The different types of dormer are: In some localities, permission must be sought for construction of dormers and other features. In England and Wales, the General Permitted Development Order states classes of development for which such planning permission is not required. Such rights are only applicable outside conservation areas , national parks , Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty or The Broads . Dormers may introduce imbalance in

966-518: The do-it-yourself nature of construction, and the popular architectural design concepts. 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. National and regional competitors in the catalog and kit home market included Aladdin , Bennett, Gordon-Van Tine , Harris Brothers, Lewis, Pacific Ready Cut Homes, Sterling and Montgomery Ward (Wardway) Homes. Sears houses can be identified or authenticated using

1008-473: The end of 1933. In 1935, some newspaper reports stated that Sears had "discontinued" the "modern homes department". However, there's no evidence that Sears actually stopped selling homes and it continued to issue a new "Modern Homes" catalog throughout the 1930s. Home sales slowly recovered as the United States emerged from the Great Depression . The last "Modern Homes" catalog was issued in 1940. Although it

1050-547: The entry, living room, and dining room. He in turn inspired other Prairie School architects, such as Walter Burley Griffin , to design similar Foursquares in the following decades. Other variations on the American Foursquare emerged regionally during the first decades of the 20th century. In Kansas City, the Shirtwaist -style emerged, with a brick or limestone first floor and siding-wrapped second and third floors. The style

1092-468: The following methods: Because the Modern Homes division sales records were destroyed, there is no way to definitively verify the number of Sears houses that still exist. Documented Sears houses have been found across the United States and in a few locations in Canada. Cities with large numbers of documented Sears Modern Homes include: The Carlinville, Illinois, concentration consists of houses bought in bulk by

1134-631: The houses. In some cases, Sears provided construction services to assemble the homes. Some builders and companies purchased houses directly from Sears to build as model homes, speculative homes, or homes for customers or employees. Although most shipments came by rail, newspaper advertisements in the late 1920s and early 1930s showed Sears offering truck delivery to buyers living within a 35 mile radius of their Newark, New Jersey , plant, or their Norwood, Ohio , Sash & Door company. Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940, though sales through local sales offices continued into 1942. Years later,

1176-534: The least popular models. Some models were offered in both wood siding and brick veneer versions with different names attributed to the same or almost identical home plan. Some of the most popular models were: The largest and one of the most expensive Sears models was the Magnolia. Only seven Magnolias are known to be still standing. One Magnolia built in Lincoln, Nebraska , was demolished in 1985. In addition to houses,

1218-449: The lucarnes of the spire of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford . Dormer windows have been used in domestic architecture in Britain since the 16th century. Dormer windows were popularised by French architect François Mansart , who used dormers extensively in the mansard roofs he designed for 17th-century Paris . Today dormers are a widespread feature of pitched roof buildings. Some of

1260-471: The most common of those being expanded floor plans and additional finished living spaces. Sears houses could also be ordered with reversed floor plans. While the vast majority of models were for single-family house designs, Sears offered some duplex house designs and even a few larger multiple-family buildings. The most popular models appeared in the catalog for multiple years. Other models only appeared for one year. No built examples have been found of some of

1302-429: The other side, bedroom, stairway and bedroom. The upstairs bathroom would generally be placed above the kitchen, so that the plumbing could run directly from one to the other. The bedrooms had a slightly longer dimension along the front and back of the house with side-by-side closets between the bedrooms. This gave a very efficient layout, with a bedroom in each corner and a centralized bathroom and stairway. The top floor

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1344-475: The parts needed and sell entire houses through mail order. That year, the Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan , offered the first kit homes through mail order. 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 (equal to $ 12,208 today) – $ 2,890 (equal to $ 98,003 today). The first mail order for

1386-419: The plane of a pitched roof . A dormer window (also called dormer ) is a form of roof window . Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space in a loft and to create window openings in a roof plane. A dormer is often one of the primary elements of a loft conversion . As a prominent element of many buildings, different types of dormer have evolved to complement different styles of architecture. When

1428-512: The sales records related to home sales were destroyed during a corporate house cleaning. As only a small percentage of these homes were documented when built, finding these houses today often requires detailed research to properly identify them. Because the various kit home companies often copied plan elements or designs from each other, there are a number of catalog and kit models from different manufacturers that look similar or identical to models offered by Sears. Determining which company manufactured

1470-458: The street scene and be seen as inappropriate within the local setting of streets and buildings. In Vancouver , there are regulations for laneway houses stating the minimum setback of the face of the dormer from the wall below, with exceptions. This is to prevent overshadowing neighbouring yards. Dormers are popular in Ulster , and commonly used to create extra space when a loft is converted into

1512-521: The structure appears on the spires of churches and cathedrals, it is usually referred to as a lucarne . The word dormer is derived from the Middle French dormeor , meaning "sleeping room", as dormer windows often provided light and space to attic-level bedrooms. One of the earliest uses of dormers was in the form of lucarnes, slender dormers which provided ventilation to the spires of English Gothic churches and cathedrals. An early example are

1554-609: The structure was light and could be lifted away like a balloon. Early balloon structures were very basic, to enable home buyers to assemble them independently and also because designers had yet to see the implications the method held. Shipped by railroad boxcar , and then usually trucked to a home site, the average Sears Modern Home kit had about 25 tons of materials, with more than 30,000 parts. Plumbing, electrical fixtures, and heating systems were options that could be ordered at additional cost; they were many families' first steps to modern HVAC systems, kitchens, and bathrooms. During

1596-472: The twentieth century, such as central heating , indoor plumbing , telephone , and electricity . Primarily shipped via railroad boxcars , these kits included most of the materials needed to build a house. Once delivered, many of these houses were assembled by the new homeowner, relatives, friends and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. Other homeowners relied on local carpenters or contractors to assemble

1638-642: Was a post-Victorian style, which shared many features with the Prairie architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright . During the early 1900s and 1910s, Wright even designed his own variations on the Foursquare, including the Robert M. Lamp House , " A Fireproof House for $ 5000 ", and several two-story models for American System-Built Homes . Unlike other houses of the style, Wright's versions featured more open main floor plans achieved by removing or minimizing partitions between

1680-554: Was cut to the appropriate lengths and angles based on where the framing lumber would be used in the house, and letter/number codes were stamped on the pre-cut lumber pieces, coordinating with labels found on the blueprints for the house. Before 1916, the home builder had to cut their Sears-supplied lumber to appropriate lengths. These pre-1916 houses are generally considered catalog houses , not kit houses . Pre-cut lumber reduced construction time by up to 40%, according to Sears. Sears' use of "balloon style" framing systems did not require

1722-601: Was generally just a big open space with one to four dormers , essentially an attic , whether finished into living space or not. The basement generally contained a large natural convection furnace or boiler , exhausting to a chimney running upwards through the center of the house, which also provided exhaust for the stove. Foursquare houses may be built with a variety of materials, including bricks and wood frames. Later models include built-in shelves and other amenities. Large tracts of these homes exist in older Midwestern urban neighborhoods, particularly streetcar suburbs , but

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1764-416: Was left by Sears when they closed the Modern Homes program, but modern-day researchers are compiling a database of those that have been found so far, and the list continues to grow. Sears Modern Homes offered more than 370 designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes over the line's 34-year history. Most included the latest comforts and conveniences available to house buyers in the early part of

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