Some Sears House Finds

Happy 4th of July! 

It's time to post a little display of some of the Sears houses that we've been looking at recently. Some are older finds, some are brand new to the list!

Sears No. 108-- Earliest Version

Our researcher buddy, Matthew, recently treated us to two very rare finds. Here is the first, a first-version Sears No. 108, in Bedford, Ohio:

Earliest-version Sears No. 108, 311 W. Glendale Street, Bedford, Ohio

The very early No. 108 in an early ad for Sears paints.

This model is very rare... this is only the second example that we know of, of this earliest version with the front corner bumpout. This model was offered beginning in 1908, but, by 1912, the floorplan had changed, to eliminate that corner bumpout, and then the model was discontinued after the 1913 catalog (and the model number was assigned to a different house). You can see more about the No. 108, in this January 3, 2020 blog post of mine.

Possible Sears No. 177

Matthew also found this house, that is quite possibly a Sears model No. 177. We don't usually post about houses that are only added to our "Possibles" list, but... this is the first example we have ever seen of this model, so I think we're all pretty excited about the possibility that it is an example of this rare model. Matthew noted that the fireplace is not located where the floor plan indicates (should be on a side wall of the living room, but it is on an interior wall), and the upstairs floor plan doesn't follow perfectly. This model was only offered from 1911-1917, according to Houses By Mail, and was never offered "cut-and-fitted" (having pre-cut, labeled framing lumber), and we've noticed that those early, non-pre-cut models are sometimes more altered (such as my family's 1911 Sears No. 110).  

Possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, New York (a section of Bethlehem, New York).

Sears No. 177 in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog, not pre-cut

Streetview capture of catalog view, possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, NY

Isn't this an inviting front porch? And, look at these lovely floors in the interior photos, and the wide, Craftsman style window trim.

Front porch of Possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, New York (a section of Bethlehem, New York)

Sunny living room, Possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, New York (a section of Bethlehem, New York)

Fireplace, not where expected, according to the catalog. Possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, New York (a section of Bethlehem, New York)

Such lovely, original hardwood floors! Possible Sears No. 177, 19 Elsmere Avenue, Delmar, New York (a section of Bethlehem, New York)

We don't always get a rear view of our houses, so I'm happy to document this.

Floor plan of the Sears No. 177, 1914 Sears Modern Homes Catalog

Write-up about the Sears No. 177 in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Sears Modern Home No. 123

A reader of our Sears Modern Homes Facebook Page, recently shared photos of her Sears No. 123, in Man, West Virginia. This is another very old, very early model, that was offered in the first catalogs in 1908, and had its last offering in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog. It was never offered as a pre-cut model.

Probable Sears Modern Home No. 123, Man, West Virginia

Probable Sears Modern Home No. 123, Man, West Virginia

For an excellent read on this old model, see Cindy Catanzaro's blog post from April of 2023, showing a Sears No. 123 in Springfield, Ohio, and the story of coming across a likely example of the No. 123 in Sharonville, Ohio:

Read Cindy's blog post, here -- lots of good information and photos on this model

Sears Puritan in Bellevue, PA

A while back (2017, to be precise), researcher Karen DeJeet (who lives in a Sears Hamilton bungalow in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) came across this nice - looking Sears Puritan model, modified to add a front porch. For some reason, I came across its later (2020) real estate listing, so we enjoyed seeing some interior photos, showing some elements we see Sears offering, in their catalogs:

Sears Puritan, with added front porch, 193 Grant Avenue, Bellevue, Pennsylvania (a section of Pittsburgh).

The real estate listing from 2020 includes this photo, showing a Sears Colonial style staircase newel, staircase spindles offered by Sears, and Sears Colonial style fireplace surround, as well as beautiful, original hardwood floors:

Living room inside the Sears Puritan at 193 Grant Avenue, Bellevue, PA, showing Sears Colonial fireplace surround, Sears Colonial staircase newel and spindles. You can see more in this real estate listing.

Sears Colonial design fireplace surround, 1930 Sears Building materials catalog

Sears Colonial newel and spindles, 1929 Sears Building Materials catalog

Sears Puritan (without side sunroom), 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Floor plan, Sears Puritan (without side sunroom), 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Sears Vallonia, Troy, New York

Andrew Mutch recently came across this 2019 real estate listing for a Sears Vallonia, in Troy, New York, and added it to our national database of Sears Houses in the U.S.. Despite having an enclosed front porch, and vinyl or aluminum siding now, the interior views show us some very nice, original hardwood flooring and Craftsman window and door trim, and original, solid wood doors.

Sears Vallonia model, 9 Roosevelt Avenue, Troy, New York

When we see the rear view of a Sears Vallonia, this is the look we expect, with this back window, and bumped-out section covering most (but not all) of the rear of the house.

You can see more examples of the Vallonia model that Andrew has blogged about, in these posts on his blog, Kit House Hunters. In this 2018 blog post of mine, you'll see a bit about the evolution of the design and the floor plans of the Sears Vallonia model.

Sears Avondale in South Carolina

Researcher Nigel Tate recently made a trip to South Carolina, and took advantage of the opportunity to look around a bit for Sears houses. He found one! It's a Sears Avondale, somewhere in Bishopville, South Carolina.

Sears Avondale, 524 US-15, Bishopville, South Carolina

Sears Avondale, 524 US-15, Bishopville, South Carolina

To see a catalog image and floor plan for the Avondale model, see this 2023 blog post by Cindy Catanzaro, at Sears Houses In Ohio, where she shows exterior and interior photos of a beauty of a Sears Avondale in Hamilton, Ohio.

Bennett Homes

We've mentioned this before: researcher Sarah Mullane is the most knowledgeable person anywhere, on Ray H. Bennett kit homes (not Sears houses, but a lumber company that also sold kit-houses, based out of North Tonawanda, New York). Here are two models she recently found:

Bennett Homes Amherst model, 696 Crescent Avenue, Buffalo, New York

Bennett Homes Amherst model

Probable Bennett Homes Drexel model, 93 Briarcliff Rd, Cheektowaga, New York, now slightly modified above the bumped-out front of the house (the living room is there). This may have been a modification done to avert leaking from ice build up on the flat roof of the original design.

Bennett Homes Drexel model, catalog image with floor plan

That's it for today's selection! You'll notice that I didn't have any of my own finds to show here... true! I have not, myself, found a Sears house in a bit. So, I'm happy to be able to highlight the finds of my fellow researchers! I'll sign off with more of the lovely Sears Fullerton that I showed the porch of, at the top of today's blog post. This one was originally found by Andrew Mutch, and I ran across it in the real estate listings again, this past week.

Sears Fullerton, 330 Harvard Avenue, Terrace Park, Ohio

Sears Fullerton, 330 Harvard Avenue, Terrace Park, Ohio

Beautiful original wood floors and original Craftsman trim around doors and windows.
See the real estate listing for more beautiful photos (this house went under contract within 3 days of hitting the real estate listings).

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For more information on who we are, and what we do, visit our website: SearsHouses.com

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New To the List: Sears No 112, Sears Wareham, Sears No 124, and More

 

Sears No 112 • 121 W Maple Street, Granville, Ohio

We've had some very nice new additions to our national database of Sears houses, recently, thanks to a new member of our research team. We welcomed Matthew into our group in July, after he shared several really good finds with us. He has impressed us with his excellent attention to detail in identifying houses, and with his energy and non-stop focus on finding houses. To date, Matthew's finds have added 81 new houses to our list, and I know that we have another list of several more to look at.... that's in about the space of a month. 

Some of Matthew's finds have been unusual models that we have only had a few of on the list, so I wanted to take a moment to highlight these new additions, like the No. 112 in Granville, Ohio, that graces the top of today's blog post. Here's the No. 112 in the 1914 catalog, next to a side view of this house in Granville, before it was re-painted:

Sears No 112 in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog, next to a side view of this model, in Granville, Ohio

The No 112 never had a non-numeric name, which means that we know that it was never offered past 1917... the 1918 catalog is the first year when the models were given names that weren't numbers (technically, the floor plans still had a number, but the catalog referred to the house with a name). The No 112 was offered from 1908 through 1916. 

Floorplan of the Sears No 112, as shown in my 1908 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Matthew found this house through a real estate listing, so I'll include a few of the interior photos here. The flooring and the original craftsman style trim is really beautiful:

The photos of the Sears No 112 at 121 W Maple Street, Granville, Ohio, can be seen in this real estate listing. We have marked this house as authenticated, because Granville was listed in the catalogs as one of the "built at" locations for this model, and Granville is a relatively small town, so we are pretty confident that this must be the only Sears No. 112 in town.

Fortunately, for us, Matthew found not one, but two of these beauties, both with real estate listings. Here's the one he found in Vinton, Iowa:

Sears No. 112 at 1115 A Avenue, Vinton, Iowa

This house has a real estate listing, too, and we've noticed that there are some definite changes that were made to this house, which would normally make us question it... but, this house has Sears Stratford design door handle hardware, and the hinges we refer to as, "Sears hinges", because they are the only company we have seen to offer them:

Though now painted over, the hinges on this door are the Sears hinges, and the door handle hardware is Sears Stratford design. 

Sears Stratford design hardware and Sears hinges, in the 1918 Sears building supplies catalog

Sears Wareham 

Another really old model that Matthew found two really good examples of, is the Sears Wareham (first marketed as the No. 264P203 or the No. 203). Both of the examples that he found, are, again, "built at" locations for this model, so we are confident marking them as authenticated. The houses are in Greenville, Pennsylvania, and Madison, West Virginia. The Wareham was offered from about 1913, I believe, through 1923.

One of these houses had a real estate listing, so we can see inside, but the house looks to have been last decorated in the 1960s or '70s, and is a bit cluttered in the photos... nonetheless, we do get to see that it still has some really nice original woodwork. Here is that Sears Wareham, at 54 Chambers Avenue, Greenville, Pennsylvania:

Sears Wareham, at 54 Chambers Avenue, Greenville, Pennsylvania

One of the things that we look for on this model, is for there to be a pair of windows right up next to the front door, and then a good amount of space, and a set of three windows (or a 3-part picture window). This house has that, and it's a really telling feature of this model. We sometimes run across other two-story bungalows with similar lines, but they don't have that arrangement of the windows and front door.

Here's that front door/window area that I'm referring to, shown in the 1923 catalog image, and on a Sears Wareham in Colonia, New Jersey, that I showed in this previous blog post.

Sears Wareham, at 54 Chambers Avenue, Greenville, Pennsylvania

Rear view of the Sears Wareham, at 54 Chambers Avenue, Greenville, Pennsylvania

This gives you a small idea of the interior of this Sears Wareham... this house was sold in February of 2021 (here is the real estate listing, to see more photos), and I hope that whoever bought it was able to bring it back to life (without removing or painting the gorgeous original wood work).

One of the bedrooms of the  Sears Wareham, at 54 Chambers Avenue, Greenville, Pennsylvania.
That door has the Sears hinges, and Sears Stratford design door handle hardware.

Here's the Wareham in the catalog, in 1914, listed as the 264P203:

Sears Wareham (No. 264P203) in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog

The second Wareham at a "built at" location, that Matthew found, was this one (also white!), in Madison, West Virginia:

Probable testimonial Sears Wareham at 213 Washington Avenue, Madison, West Virginia

Actually, Matthew has found us two other possible examples of the Wareham, but one of them has the front porch enclosed, so we can't check the front window/door arrangement, and the other has some other differences, but both are likely examples of the Sears Wareham.

Sears No. 124

We were delighted when Matthew presented a Sears No. 124 that he had found in Carlton, Minnesota:

Probable Sears No. 124 at 729 2nd St, Carlton, Minnesota
(real estate photos here)

Sears No. 124 in the 1916 Sears Modern Homes catalog, courtesy of Daily Bungalow

The No. 124 is another model that was not offered during the pre-cut years, and never had a moniker other than the model number. Here's the floor plan:

Sears No. 124 floor plan, 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog

That big bank of upper windows on the back of the upstairs, is a telling feature of this model, and you can see if at the landing of the staircase, and in a rear view from the real estate listing:

Once again, we do have real estate photos, but they are not very good... still, I'll show another one or two:

Another Sears No. 124

I've been meaning, for a few years, to show you this Sears No. 124 example in another "built at" location: Grand Rapids, Michigan. This was found by researcher Nigel R. Tate. What's special about this, is that it is not only a Sears house in a "built at" location, but it is the childhood home of former United States President, Gerald R. Ford! President Ford lived here with his mother from 1913-1917, after she was divorced from his father. She later remarried

1960 Prospect Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, a childhood home of President Gerald R. Ford
(originally 1960 Terrace SE).

This image and information comes from the President Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum website, here

President Ford was originally named after his birth father, but was re-named after his mother's new husband, Gerald R. Ford, Sr, after his mother remarried:

Source: President Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum website, here

There are some very nice interior and exterior photos here, in a recent real estate listing:

1960 Prospect Avenue SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, a childhood home of President Gerald R. Ford
(originally 1960 Terrace SE)

Sears Avondale

This Avondale example at 713 Adair Street, Adair, Iowa, has served as a church parsonage and office for years, and was just sold to the public in 2019. Once again, it has Sears Stratford design door handle hardware, and Sears hinges (not only on doors, but on built-in cabinetry inside the house). The Avondale is a favorite model of ours, because of the really striking interior woodwork in the living room and dining room, which I'll show here. The home also has a fireplace with a brick surround that is of a style marketed by Sears. The house is the reverse floor plan of what is shown in the catalogs, and has a different front porch style because no brick was used, but the interior elements certainly make us feel confident that this is a Sears Avondale.

Sears Avondale at 713 Adair Street, Adair, Iowa

1918 catalog image of the Sears Avondale, flipped

Sears Avondale at 713 Adair Street, Adair, Iowa from this real estate listing (all interior photos)

Here is the usual layout of the Sears Avondale, as shown in the 1918 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Here, I've flipped the floor plan of the Avondale, to show how the Avondale in Adair, Iowa, is laid out

living room and front entry, as seen looking in from the dining room of the Sears Avondale

dining room area with built-in buffet, Sears Avondale

This is a built-in buffet that we pretty much always see inside a Sears Avondale

Here is that impressive view of the ceilings and colonnades of the Sears Avondale

Bedford red pressed brick hearth design, marketed by Sears in their catalogs

The Bedford red pressed brick fireplace hearth, shown in this Sears catalog

Sears Saratoga  (264P146 version)

In Boone, Iowa, Matthew found a great-loooking Sears Saratoga. The Saratoga was first offered with a wraparound porch, as the No. 146, then as the 264P146. A bit later, the wraparound porch was cut to be simply a big porch across the front of the house, and the model was then marketed as the No. 108, and, finally, as the Saratoga. Matthew's find in Boone, Iowa, is the earliest version, with the wraparound porch.

We have no real estate photos of this house, and there is a good bit of tree foliage around the house, so I've taken a series of screen shots around the house, from 2013 Google Streetview. But, I'll start off with the grainy color images from 2007 Streetview, because you can see the house without foliage in the way:

Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2007 Streetview)

Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2007 Streetview)

Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2007 Streetview)

Sears Saratoga in its earliest years, in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Here are 2013 Google Streetview images, taken from a variety of angles:

Rear view and left side of Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2013 Streetview)

Left side of Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2013 Streetview)

Left side and front section of wraparound porch,  of Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2013 Streetview)

Front view of Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2013 Streetview)

Right side of Sears No 146 / Saratoga, 200 Cedar Street, Boone, Iowa (2013 Streetview)

Here is the floor plan of this earliest version of the Sears Saratoga/ No 146:

You can see photos of a "built at" authenticated Sears No. 146/Saratoga, in Bennington, Vermont, in this previous blog post of mine, and you can see a later-era Saratoga/No. 108, in Fairmont, West Virginia, in this blog post of mine.

Sears Corona (264P240) / No. 240

Finally, another really nice find, and only the 14th on our list: a Sears Corona, which was first marketed a the No. 240 and the No. 264P240.  Here it is in two years of the catalogs:

Sears No. 264P240 (early name of the Corona) in the 1914 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Sears Corona in the 1920 Sears Modern Homes catalog

And, here is the house that Matthew found:

Sears Corona, 925 Madison Avenue, Huntington, West Virginia 
(Image courtesy of Google maps Streetview, 2018)

This lovely Sears Corona was for sale in May of 2022, and so we have a few interior photos from that listing, including one that includes a door with... you guessed it... Sears Stratford design door handle hardware.

There's that Stratford design door handle hardware!

Great work, Matthew, and welcome to the world of searching for Sears houses!

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For more information on who we are, and what we do, visit our website: SearsHouses.com