Snowy, Wintry, Christmasy Sears Houses & Friends

Sears Avalon model, Winamac, Indiana

Welcome to my annual December blog post, where I like to show Sears houses with Christmas lights, or snow, at least... but, if you've been a regular reader, you know that I usually don't have enough Sears houses to include, so I get to highlight some other historic houses with decorations. This year, I'm fortunate to have a number of Sears houses to show, but I will also show a couple of very worthy non-Sears houses. 

The house shown above, is an Avalon model, by Sears, graciously shared with us by Laurie, its owner. She believes the house to have been built in 1928, which was the last year that the Avalon was in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs. Laurie shared a few more photos with us of her festively decorated home, so let's take a look:

Sears Avalon in the 1926 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Nora shared with us her Sears Hamilton bungalow, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania:

Sears Hamilton bungalow, in the 1926 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Researcher Karen DeJeet has a Sears Hamilton bungalow, as well. It recently snowed in Pittsburgh, and she took this pretty photo for us. Her Hamilton had its dormer removed, and she has an addition on the house:

Beautiful, snowy setting for Karen's 1926 Sears Hamilton bungalow in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Karen's fireplace is all decorated for Christmas, too! The mantel is original, from the original kit from Sears, though the brickwork is new:

Karen's beautifully decorated fireplace.

Kit shared her beautiful Sears Jeanette, in Long Island, New York:

Kit, hoping you're okay with my showing your house! 

Jeanette in the 1932 Sears Modern Homes catalog

This beautiful Sears Kilbourne, in Milford, Ohio, was graciously shared by Carl and his wife:

Sears Kilbourne, in Milford, Ohio

In January of 2021, I did an extensive blog post about an authenticated Sears No. 163, in Newton, New Jersey. The original owner was Reuben Talmage, who ordered a slightly customized version of the house, in 1911. This was before Sears houses were sold with pre-measured, pre-cut framing lumber. The current owners were kind enough to share a few views of the house, with Christmas decorations:

Authenticated Sears No. 163 in Newton, New Jersey

Authenticated Sears No. 163 in Newton, New Jersey

Authenticated Sears No. 163 in Newton, New Jersey

Rick has an authenticated Sears Lewiston in Waterford, Connecticut (with blueprints!) and was happy to have his lovely, snowy, Christmasy home included in this years's December blog post:

You can learn more about this model, in my 2017 blog post about this model, which also shows the numerous "lookalikes" that other companies (kit and non-kit) offered.

Thank goodness for this year's snow in Matawan, New Jersey. This authenticated Sears Maplewood model was graciously shared by its owner, Joe:

Charlotte and Allen H. Fancher, bought this Maplewood from Sears in 1934, already constructed, as it had been a foreclosure. We don't know the names of the original owners, who had a mortgage through Sears, and lost it back to Sears, during the depression.

Sears Maplewood in the 1932 Sears Modern Homes catalog
This model was later re-named the Ridgeland, and remained in the catalogs through 1940, with only one small design change to the back dormer area, in that year. You can learn more about this model, in this 2015 blog post by researcher (and Sears house owner) Andrew Mutch.

Amber has a 1918-1926-era Sears Winona model, in West Virginia. The Winona was offered for many years (1913-1940), with several design changes throughout the years, and sometimes two different floor plans available for each of those designs. It's a complicated model to pin down, so I did a blog post about the Winona, in 2020 to help all of us researchers keep track of what window layouts, footprint sizes,  and bracket styles to look for each year. 

This is the look of the Sears Winona from 1918-1926. In 1923, an additional floor plan option was offered, which was a bit larger, and had a side bump out for the dining room.

Here is a rear view of Amber's Winona, as the new siding was being added.
Note those Sears five-piece angle brackets.

As often happens during renovation and re-siding, windows for the bathroom are removed and that space covered over. That explains the lack of a small window between these two pairs of windows.

Snowy setting in West Virginia, for this 100-year old Sears Winona model

We believe this to be a Sears Castleton model, in Lancaster, New York:

Here is the Castleton in the 1918 Sears Modern Homes catalog. I don't believe that the Castleton (or No. 227) was ever offered as a pre-cut model. It would have shipped with standard-length framing lumber, still needing to be measured and cut on site.

In Hagerstown, Maryland, Helen has a beautifully original Sears Elmwood model, though it has the porch soffit of the Sunbeam version of this model. Helen has noted several design elements that were usually found in the Elmwood years of this model (as I outlined in this blog post about an Elmwood in Normal, Illinois). This particular house was found for us by young researcher and avid historian, Henry R., who also informed us that it is built on the original site of the Civila War Battle of Funkstown. 

Sears Elmwood, circa 1918, with Sunbeam porch soffit, Hagerstown, Maryland

Sears Elmwood, circa 1918, with Sunbeam porch soffit, Hagerstown, Maryland

Sears Elmwood, circa 1918, with Sunbeam porch soffit, Hagerstown, Maryland

Sears Elmwood, circa 1918, with Sunbeam porch soffit, Hagerstown, Maryland

Sears Elmwood, circa 1918, with Sunbeam porch soffit, Hagerstown, Maryland

Sears Vallonia in Wheeler, Michigan. This Vallonia has a different kind of porch columns than we usually see on the Vallonia, but we are confident, because of other aspects of the house, that it is a Sears Vallonia. Researcher Cindy Catanzaro explains what to look for in the two different versions of the Vallonia, only slightly different from each other, in this 2015 blog post.

I also recently ran across this snowy setting Vallonia, shared by Donna S., who grew up in the house. Yes, Donna, it is a Vallonia!

snowy setting Vallonia

These two lovely houses in the snow, in New Jersey, deserve a look, too... not Sears houses, not kit houses:

This house realllllly pre-dates the Sears Modern Homes era... it's a historic house in Metuchen, New Jersey, known as the Ayers-Allen house, and it dates from circa 1740.

Not too terribly far from Metuchen, is this lovely, bright yellow house in Watchung, New Jersey, which belongs to one of my sisters!:

This house is from a couple of decades after the  Sears Modern Homes program, and is not a kit house, just a lovely, well-made house in a beautiful snowy setting... built circa 1965, I believe.

And, to finish off, a house with a special message in lights... a message we all are clinging to... hoping for peace in our hearts, in our families, for our loved ones, in our country, and in the world:

You can read about this house, a Sears Lorne in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania,  and its family history, in this 2018 blog post of mine. This was the first Sears Lorne found by our team, and was originally built, in 1922,  by a member of the DeHaven family, farming land owners of the area. 

                                          

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