Lewis Homes Ardmore model in Webster Groves, Missouri

Probable Lewis Homes Ardmore • 1927 • 441 Lee Avenue, Webster Groves, Missouri

Webster Groves is a beautiful town in the suburbs of St. Louis, not far from the city of St. Louis.  It's beautiful because it's full of all kinds of homes from the early decades of the 1900s, well taken care of, and of all shapes and sizes.  Everyone's yards are nicely landscaped, there are shade trees and sidewalks everywhere, and hydrangea bushes abound.  This is the kind of place where we look for Sears homes... however, Webster really isn't full of them.  Some lumber company (or companies) got their foot in the door first, so kit homes are not plentiful (nothing like, say, similar towns in Michigan or Pennsylvania or upstate New York, where we find many, many kit homes) -- but, we have found a few. 

Here on Lee Avenue, just off of Rock Hill Road, I spotted this wonderful white stucco home that I am sure must be a kit home by the Lewis Homes company: The Ardmore model.  Though there is at least one "lookalike" out there among the plans-only companies' books, this house matches the Ardmore perfectly.  The footprint ( 26' wide X 28' deep) matches the Ardmore's footprint, and, most importantly, the placement and type and size of windows and doors match just right for it to be an Ardmore.  I found a lookalike put out in 1923 by the National Home Builder's Society, called the Pines, and it is a dead ringer on the outside... but windows on the sides are different.  Let's take a look:

Here, on the left, is the Lewis Homes Ardmore, in the 1924 catalog. On the right, our home at 441 Lee Avenue. Even the window box and the front door light fixtures seem to match the catalog image. A perfect match, though in stucco.

And, here is the National Home Builder's Society Pines, next to the Lewis Ardmore:

Uhhh.... yeah.... clearly the exact same house, same photo. 

But, a look at the floor plans shows some substantial differences on each floor, inside.  Of course, our problem is that we can't see the inside from the street.  But, we can see the windows on the left side, thanks to a photo I just took this evening, and that shows that the window distribution on that side is perfect for the Lewis Ardmore, and not right at all, either upstairs or down, for the Pines:

First-floor comparison. I've indicated, in blue, windows that are different on the two models.

Second-floor comparison.  I've indicated, in orange, windows that are different on the two models.

You can see, in the photo above, that the three expected windows are right there, on the Lee Avenue home.  And, in the photo below, the left-side dining room and living room windows are placed just right for the Lewis Ardmore.

These first-floor lower-level windows that span the living room and dining room, match the Ardmore.

Here is an example of a home in Flint, Michigan, that looks to be the lookalike National Home Builder's Society Pines . We're not 100% convinced, however, since the three upper-floor  windows on that side look more correct for the Lewis Ardmore :

Thanks to researcher Nigel Tate, for sharing this find.

The Interior

As it turns out, 441 Lee Avenue was listed for sale in 2016, and that means... interior photos! This first one shows you how perfectly the entry hall, staircase, coat closet, dining room, and living room all match up to where they should be placed for the Lewis Ardmore:

These interior photos are from this Zillow listing for 441 Lee Avenue.

Over the years, a large addition was put on the back corner, allowing the expansion of the kitchen, and the addition of a good-size family room:

The back addition.

The expanded kitchen, looking into the living space in the back addition.

 Let's just take a look at some more views of the original areas of the house (click on any to enlarge):

Who Lived Here?

Well, I can tell you who lived here beginning in probably late 1928 or 1929, but not who built the house.  Whoever the original owner was, according to this listing in the May 06, 1928 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his job was transferred... and, reluctantly, he was selling his home. The ad notes that the house was built by the owner:

Tax records say that the house was only built in 1927 -- the owner must have barely gotten to live in his new home, at all.

It looks like general-practice attorney Benjamin Wolf bought the house at this point, and moved in with his wife, Hulda, and their children, Catherine and Arnold. Catherine became engaged in 1938, and, by 1940, the Mr. and Mrs. Wolf were renting a modest apartment in nearby Richmond Heights... perhaps hit by the effects of the Great Depression.  Throughout a time in 1944, there were numerous listings of the house up for sale.

The Wolf family in the 1930 census, in their home on Lee Avenue in Webster Groves.

Benjamin Wolf is shown as a General Practice lawyer.

Other Kit Homes in Webster Groves

• Authenticated Lewis Homes Marlboro, about a mile from this Lewis Ardmore

• A wonderful Gordon-Van Tine Company's Model No. 535, on Oakwood Avenue

• Sears Stanford  right next door to a Sears Clifton

• Sears Randolph in the same neighborhood as the Clifton and the Stanford 

• Sears Lewiston on N. Laclede Station Road

• A custom-design Sears home on Westborough 

Sears Haven vs. Cornell vs. Davenport

Three Sears houses of an almost identical exterior design: the Haven, the Cornell, and the Davenport

Sears had three houses that, on the exterior, look almost identical: The Haven, the Cornell, and the Davenport. Let's see what to look for to distinguish these houses, if you run across one in the wild, and what is different inside.

The Haven

The Haven model was the first of these to be offered in the catalogs. It was available in the 1922, 1923, and 1924 catalogs. 

Here is the Haven, in the 1923 catalog, available here on Archive.org

The Cornell

The Cornell came along in 1925, was not available in some editions from 1931 and 1932*, came back in 1933, looks to be absent from the 1934 catalog, and then continued to be available until the 1938 catalog. However, in those years, there were changes made to the floor plan. 

Here is the Cornell in its first year, 1925 (available here, on Archive.org).

As you can see, the only thing that looks different, from this view, is the style of the porch columns. But, my research mentors pointed out to me, early on, that there was also a change made to the number of windows on the other side of the house: the living room and the dining room had only one window in the Haven, but there are two in each of those rooms in the Cornell.

So, when we run across these homes out "in the wild", the first things we look at, are the porch columns, and then the first-floor windows on the side that doesn't have the side-entry door.

Haven and Cornell examples, with porch column difference, and LR & DR windows different.

There is a customized Sears Cornell currently for sale in the lovely Glenshaw area of greater Pittsburgh, and the owner shared blueprints with our research team.  Here is the page showing the double windows and three upper windows of this side of a Cornell:

That's a Cornell ! 

Here is what those big, beautiful double windows look like from the inside of the house:

Interior of the Glenshaw Cornell : living room, with its double windows

Interior of the Glenshaw Cornell : Dining Room with its double windows

On occasion, the house you find has had the front porch columns changed, or they're made of brick, so you can't go by that. In that case, you have to try to get a look at those side windows.  Again, though, occasionally, there is no way to see that side. This model was very popular in cities -- we have found dozens of them in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh -- and houses are sometimes very close to each other on those city lots, so you can't see the side windows.  Here's an example in Pittsburgh, of a Haven with both of those issues:

This house in Pittsburgh, has neither of the original Haven or Cornell porch column designs.  And, viewing the left side elevation was impossible -- trees galore! But, fortunately, for this one, I had a 1922 mortgage tied to it, so I knew that it was a Haven.

1232 Woodbourne Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA,
An authenticated Haven, thanks to a 1922 mortgage record.

 Here's the oh-so-helpful view of the left side!

And, here's an example of an authenticated, but customized (enlarged) Sears Cornell, that also has different front porch columns.  It has the columns that we usually see on a Sears Fullerton:

The left side shows the standard Sears Cornell front elevation.  The right side shows the customized Sears Cornell in Glenshaw, that has been widened by four feet, has a reverse floor plan (see how the door and window are switched), and a different style porch column.  

This close up of the porch area, shows where editing was made to indicate the new porch column style:

This was also stamped on those blueprints, to indicate that the house was to be built using the reverse floor plan:

"This house to be built reversed to this plan."

First-Floor Floor Plan

First-floor layouts for the Haven (1923) and Cornell (1925). 

We normally don't even need to look at the inside of these houses to know which is a Haven, and which is a Cornell.  But, sometimes, it happens that those exterior features are missing, windows are closed over during a siding job or renovation, and we have a little mystery on our hands. Then, if we have the opportunity to explore the interior, we know what to look for.  In that case, it's interesting to note these changes:

• The Haven is 2-feet shorter in depth, at 20 X 24 (the Cornell is 20 X 26)
• The back wall of the dining room of the Haven has two windows, whereas the Cornell has one wide one (which is probably a shorter-in-height window, meant to be above a sideboard).
• The very center of the first floor, is slightly different, causing one corner of the dining room to be notched in a little bit, only on the Haven.
• The entry area and first step of the stairway, are slightly different.  The Haven enters into an open space, and there is a curved first step on the staircase.  The Cornell, however, has a wall to the right, as soon as you step into the house, because there is a closet there at the base of the landing. The first step to the staircase is just a straight step.

Here are three real estate photos from a Cornell in Pittsburgh, that illustrate a few of these points:

5935 Rodgers Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Trulia listing here)

dining room of Cornell

Here is the page of blueprints for the Cornell in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, showing this back elevation on the Cornell:

This home is currently for sale, actually -- here is the Zillow listing

And here is an interior photo of the entryway of a Haven, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.  It shows a more open area, with no closet, and the first tread of the staircase is rounded off to the side, projecting a little bit into the living room.  

This probable Haven at 4 Floral Avenue, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, has the reverse floor plan to the standard catalog offering.
(source)

And, another Haven... this one shows the curved edge of the first step, and also shows the notched area of the corner of the dining room (click images to enlarge):

5405 Hunter Avenue, Norwood, Ohio (Estately listing)

Again, the probable Haven in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, showing the little bumped-out corner of the dining room:

Remember that this is the reverse floor plan to the catalog image. (source)

The same Haven's dining room windows: two full-sized windows on the back wall (back side of the house), instead of one short one in the center of that wall on the Cornell; one single window on the side wall, instead of the double windows there, on the Cornell :

That entry doorway to the kitchen, on the left, is actually just a standard door size, though the angle of this photo makes it look wider. (Source)

Upper-floor Side Windows

You can see that, up at the top on that LR/DR side of the house, where I have circled, both models have the same window pattern: three windows.  The middle one is for a bathroom, so that one usually is a little smaller. The other two are for the two bedrooms up on that side of the house. Both models have four upstairs bedrooms -- to start off with. But, starting in 1927, the Cornell had an additional floor plan option for upstairs.  That changes the window pattern slightly -- the upper area on this side elevation, will show only two windows, because the bathroom has been moved to the front corner of the house.

Original plans for second floor, show a very similar layout between the Haven and the Cornell, but I've indicated some areas of change in the Cornell model:

Very similar placement of rooms.  I've circled and squared-in the areas where some changes were made in the Cornell.

Cornell's New 2nd-Floor Plan
Starting in 1927, and shown in 1928, 1929, 1930, and 1933 (it wasn't offered in some editions of the 1931, 1932 , or 1934 catalogs), the Cornell had a second option for the second floor:

Big changes in the entry areas to the 2nd-floor rooms, elimination of a bedroom, and bathroom moved.

That new option cut out one of the bedrooms, and moved the bathroom to the front of the house... resulting in a change to the look of the upstairs windows.  If you find a Cornell with this upstairs layout, you'll only have two windows upstairs on that non-entry side.  Beginning in 1935, and continuing through 1938 (the last year for the Cornell )  this new-option layout became the only layout available for the 2nd floor.

The original, 3226A floor plan for upstairs, has the bathroom straight across from the staircase.  Here is a view of how you see the bathroom straight ahead of you, as soon as you get to the top of the stairs.  This is as (blurry--sorry!) screen shot from a short video sent to me by the owner of the Cornell in Glenshaw.

We sometimes notice, though, these anomalies in the catalog.  The 1935 and 1936 catalogs show an image of the Cornell with the older window pattern (3 windows) up on the side elevation, 2nd floor, but the only floor plan actually offered, is the newer plan, that has no window there!

You can see this catalog here, on Daily Bungalow's Flickr album, or here, on Antique Home's web page.

Here, though, is the 1938 catalog, which finally has an accurate image of the only version offered at that point, of the Cornell:

Here is the Cornell in the 1938 catalog, on Archive.org.

The owner of the Cornell in Glenshaw has 22 pages of blueprints for his house.  For some reason, Sears sent plans for both the A and the B floor plans -- though, actually, the house is customized a bit, and didn't follow the plans exactly, downstairs, anyway.  Here is that corner of the blueprints that shows the model number.  You can just barely make out "3226A" and "3226B":

I think this will enlarge a bit, if you click.

The Short-Lived Davenport Model

1931 catalog only: The Davenport

In the 1931 catalog, only, Sears decided to replace the Cornell with a new variation: The Davenport. But, it looks like they re-purposed a drawing of the Cornell, because the house image shows a middle window up on the side elevation, 2nd floor (above the LR and DR), but, the floor plan does not have one there.  Also, the Davenport's floor plan eliminates the double window of the dining room, on that same side, replacing it with a single window, and the catalog image of the house has a cleverly-placed little tree covering that area.

Houses By Mail shows the Davenport on page 295, but, it shows no floor plan. We've not paid it much mind, honestly, and I think we've all figured it was about the same model as the Cornell, just with some shutters added. But, the 1931 catalog actually shows that this is a significantly different model from the Cornell.  It is bigger, at 22 X 28 (Cornell's footprint is 20 X 26), and the interior layout is quite different from either of the Cornell's plans. Let's take a look.

Cornell vs Davenport: Exterior.
Notice, too, that the upper floor windows on the side, here, should not include that middle window! It was not part of the Davenport's floor plan upstairs.

Cornell vs Davenport: First Floor
The dining room has been greatly reduced in size; the living room made longer, but not as wide; and the whole entry area now provides a straight shot down the hall, to get to the kitchen.  The coat closet has been moved from the base of the stairway, to the space under the stairway, accessible from the new hallway there.  Also, the front window, next to the front door, is now a pair of slim windows, instead of one big wide window.

We have only one Davenport on our National Database of Sears Homes, and it's a beauty, in Arlington, Virginia.  We know it's most likely a Sears house, because it has  Sears La Tosca hardware, and it pretty much follows the plan of our Sears Davenport.

3213 4th St. N., Arlington, Virginia  (photos from Zillow listing)

This image shows the new placement of the closet, under the staircase, and the long entry hall, as well as a tiny view of the La Tosca hardware on the door handle.

La Tosca door hardware was only offered by Sears.

Another of the several doors in the house, showing La Tosca door hardware.

This shows the correct entry area, as well as the newly-added
wall, with large opening, between the living room and the entry hall.

Again, the long entry hall, and the new wall between that area, and the living room.
Also, we can see the correct placement of the dining room and kitchen.
This does not have the bay window shown in the floor plan, for the back window of the dining room.

Correct placement of LR, DR, and kitchen -- rooms, as well as entry openings.

2nd Floor: Cornell versions VS Davenport

The Cornell's two upper-floor layouts, vs the Davenport's 2nd floor.

The second floor shows some big changes to the floor plan. It's really nothing like the Cornell at all. The long, narrow hall is new, the bathroom has really been downsized from what it was in Cornell B, and that back bedroom is a small one.

This view of the Arlington Davenport's second floor, shows that it doesn't quite follow what was offered in the catalog. They must have asked for some customization, because this image shows the stairway as a straight one, with no turn, yet the catalog image for the second floor clearly shows a turned staircase. We do see La Tosca hardware again, though!

That's clearly a single, straight stairway -- no turn involved.  Looks like a Sears newel, though.

Summary
Here's a quick summary of what was offered, when:

• Haven: 1922, 1923, 1924 
• Cornell:  First appeared in 1925 
• only one 2nd-floor plan offered in 1925 & 1926
• additional 2nd-floor plan offered in 1927, 1928, 1929, & 1930
• * not offered in 1931, 1932, or 1934 (one researcher has a 1931 catalog with the Cornell, but no Davenport; others have a 1931 with no Cornell, but with the Davenport)
• 1935-1938 have only the B 2nd-floor plan available
• not offered in 1939 or 1940
• Davenport: 
• Only offered in the 1931 catalog -- but not every edition

We have seen regional differences sometimes, in the catalogs, or slight changes from one edition of a year, to another, so it's possible that someone might have a 1934 catalog that shows the Cornell, or a catalog showing the Davenport in another year, but, this is what our team of researchers has in their catalog collections.  If you know of any differences from what I have listed above, please let me know!

The Aladdin Liberty model
To add a bit more confusion to the matter, the Aladdin Homes kit company offered a model that, on the exterior, looked pretty much just like the Sears Haven... except for the front porch rails and columns. Their model was called the Liberty, and had two floorplans:

Aladdin Homes Liberty model, 1926 Aladdin catalog

Aladdin's 1926 Liberty model, against the Sears Haven and Sears Cornell floorplans

The Customized Cornell in Glenshaw: One Last Look

And, if you're interested in living in an enlarged and customized Sears Cornell, in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, here again is the listing for that house, at 904 S. Park Avenue, so you can see more photos. This house has had a bit of an addition put on the back, to add more kitchen space, and they've pretty faithfully kept the Craftsman style, including some of the original cabinets:

They also expanded the master bedroom, to make a master suite, with walk-in closet, and a nice-sized master bathroom, that also faithfully keeps with the Craftsman-era style of the house (click any photo to enlarge):

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