Sears Ashmore In Erie, Pennsylvania

Sears Ashmore • 1918 • 331 Lincoln Avenue, Erie, Pennsylvania

Reverse image of the Ashmore in the 1918 catalog.

The Sears Ashmore model has been on our minds the last week or so, thanks to our having had the chance to tour the inside of a testimonial Sears Ashmore, in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during our recent Meet-Up of kit house researchers. I had previously located that Ashmore, thanks to a Testimonial about the house, that the original owner, James J. Humpal, had sent in to Sears after he had built his house in 1920 (you can see my blog post about it, here ). We were able to speak to the owners when we stopped by to photograph the house in person, that weekend, and were graciously invited inside to tour the house. What a treat that was for us, especially since we rarely see the inside of this model... in fact, now that I think about it, none of us had ever seen the interior of an Ashmore in original condition, before. Those that we have on our National Database of Sears Houses In the U.S., that have real estate listings, are of houses that have been greatly modernized, and have lost the original flavor of the model. 

Then, in the week after our return to our respective homes, researcher Andrew Mutch ran across this Ashmore for sale, in Erie, Pennsylvania. Finally, a real estate listing with excellent photos of an Ashmore that has kept its original Craftsman-era look. So, today's blog is being written in order to document that look, thanks to the set of real estate photos we have now. 

First, let's take a look at the Ashmore's floor plan. Here it is in the 1918 catalog, the year that this Ashmore in Erie, is thought to have been built:

Sears Ashmore floorplan, as shown in the 1918 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

Keep in mind that the house in Erie, Pennsylvania, was built with the reverse floor plan, no doubt to take advantage of its position as a corner lot, to place the the little open porch, in the middle of the side elevation, where it would enjoy some light and views of the neighborhood. The reverse situating of the house would also allow the bedrooms and bathroom, which are on the opposite side of the house, to be a little more secluded from passers-by. Let's start the tour!

One of the sweetest aspects of the Sears Ashmore's design, is this fireplace nook, that is elevated by two steps up, with bench seating along the walls, and built-in glass-front book cases flanking the fireplace, topped with those sweet little square windows above each book case. Of course, adding to the look, is the wonderful wide trim around the windows and doors of the Ashmore. However, usually, when we think of Craftsman-era trim on Sears houses, we think of straight-across trim. But, the Ashmore, we now see, has a slight peak to the center of the top piece of each set of trim surrounding windows or doors. We were discussing this the other day, and realize that we can't think of another Sears house that uses this style trim (we may have seen it, and just aren't remembering, but it isn't shown in the building supplies catalogs, either-- in fact, let me dit that already: the owner of a customized 1916 Sears Hazelton just showed us that two of the interior doors in his house, use that trip over the door... see below). Take a look at the next three photos of the house, of the fireplace nook, the other side of the living room, and the dining room... all show that slightly peaked trim. You can see this, too, in the interior photos of the Ashmore, that are provided in the catalogs over the years that the Ashmore was offered. We discovered, just recently, that the images shown in the earliest years were replaced, beginning in 1922, with interior images from the testimonial home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, that I've been mentioning throughout this blog... the very house! We recognized it, in part because that house has white-and-dark painted woodwork and built-ins in the dining toom. But, for this blog post, I'll show you the 1918-era catalog's interior images.

Here is this fireplace nook, as shown in the 1918 catalog, showing wood paneling 2/3 of the way up the walls, and a stone fireplace:

The living room, with its bumped-out set of three windows, at the far end, is also shown in the catalog:

And, below, you see the dining room as it is shown in the catalog (again, with wood paneling part way up the wall), followed by a photo of the dining room in the Ashmore in Erie, Pennsylvania:

That's the same basic built-in buffet as the catalog shows, but with a leaded-glass treatment to the glass panels.

The testimonial Ashmore in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, had that peaked style of trim throughout the house, as well, though with a rich, chocolate color:

And here are the two doors in a Norwood, Illinois customized Sears Hazelton, that use that trim... just on those two doors in the house, though, not everywhere.

The rest of the rooms in the Erie, PA Ashmore, are in lovely condition, as well, with the kitchen modernized tastefully. That spot where the refrigerator is, is actually the eat-in breakfast alcove in the original floor plan: 

The bedrooms are spacious, with one of them on the first floor, being used as a nice, bright office and library space:

Upstairs, there is room for one spacious bedroom, and one additional space, across the way, that some owners have made into an additional bathroom (as in this house), or into an artist studio (as in the case of the Cleveland Heights Ashmore).

Here's the added upstairs bathroom, in the Erie, PA Ashmore. Not my favorite style, but it is spacious.

We just love the Ashmore, and I'm happy to have been able to put together a post with interior photos of one. To wrap up, let me include a few more of the Ashmore's interesting exterior:

Other Sears Ashmores We've Located

If you'd like to see a few more Ashmores, I can point you to a few.

First, this beauty in Cincinnati, Ohio, presented by Cindy Catanzaro in this Sears Houses In Ohio blog post:

Sears Ashmore on Terrace Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio

In that blog post, Cindy presents another Ashmore, this one in Highland Park, Michigan, and directs you to Andrew Mutch's blog post about it:

Sears Ashmore in Highland Park, Michigan

But... don't miss Andrew's follow-up blog post regarding that Highland Park, Michigan house... there's an interesting story that is tied to it (interesting, at least, to those of us who love the kit house world!).

And, of course, there's my newly-updated blog post about the testimonial Sears Ashmore, built by James J. Humpal in about 1920 or 1921, that I've referenced several times throughout this blog post:

Sears Ashmore on Corydon Rd, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Sears Ashmore in the 1922 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Bennett F. Sperry's Sears Columbine In Cleveland Heights Ohio

Authenticated Sears Columbine • 1926 • 3407 Clarendon Road, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

Sears Columbine in the 1926 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Last weekend, I had a delightful, if short, visit to Cleveland, Ohio, to meet up with long-time Sears group friends, Cindy, Andrew, and Marie. We spent a very enjoyable day on Saturday, driving around all over the eastern side of Cuyahoga County, and saw at least 50 houses, I think... Sears houses, of course! One that we stopped by, was this Sears Columbine, on Clarendon Road, in Cleveland Heights. It was one that I especially wanted to see.

Along with visiting with each other, and driving around to see lots of houses, we each did a bit of research in the historic mortgage records of one county or another. I was in town early enough to spend two days in the offices of the Cuyahoga County Administrative Headquarters, in downtown Cleveland, where everyone was very helpful. Andrew finished up a good bit of research in Lorain County, and so, since he was in town by then, came with me on Friday to help locating and printing out the legal descriptions of the roughly 110 mortgages that I was able to track down. Records were a little tricky to find, and we feel certain that there were more mortgages than that, but I was restricted to searching the Mortgage Release files. I'm thrilled to have found as many as I did, though, because we'll be adding Cleveland area Sears houses to our national database. While we already had about 150 houses for Cuyahoga County on our list, with about 50 of those having been authenticated through Deed research by Cindy Catanzaro, my first mortgages have netted us new Sears houses for our list. 

But, today, my most recent mortgage turned out to be this Columbine that we already knew of, thanks to an informative little page of the Cleveland Heights Historical Society's website, where we learned of several Sears houses in that suburb of Cleveland. So, since I had photos from this weekend, I thought I'd check a bit into this house's first owner, and show the photos that I took of the house.

Bennett Floyd Sperry

My research showed me that the man who took out the mortgage with Sears, for the house to be built on this lot, was Bennett F. Sperry, who had his own business as a piano tuner. Sears trustee Walker O. Lewis signed off on a $4,000 mortgage, on April 28th, 1926. 

What's interesting to me -- and puzzling-- is that Bennett F. Sperry is described, in that 1926 mortgage, as being unmarried. Not so, though! Bennett had married in 1923, and continued to be shown as married, to the same woman, in the 1930 and 1940 census reports, as well as on his 1942 WWII registration card.  Using Ancestry.com, I came across the marriage listing for the joining of 35 year old Bennett F. Sperry, and 47 year old Calista VanBlarcum. Bennett had been married previously, but had divorced in 1916, and Calista... Mrs. Calista VanBlarcum... was a widow. They married on November 16, 1923:

Marriage record of Bennett F. Sperry and Calista M. VanBlarcum

What's also odd, is that, despite buying, and building, this house in Cleveland Heights, in 1926, Bennett Sperry's address is given as a different one, in the 1930 and 1940 census records. Of course, sometimes folks bought and built Sears houses to use as rental units. And, as Bennett was divorced in 1916, perhaps, he had a child with his previous wife, and an obligation to provide a home for that first family. Perhaps he bought the Sears Columbine for them? I don't know. The Cleveland City directories of the era (which include Cleveland Heights), that are available on Ancestry.com, do not include the second half of the directories I need to check... for some reason, they only include up to about the letter M (of last names). 

Here's the summary of Bennett F. Sperry's listing in the 1940 U.S. Census.

Locating The House

Whenever we do mortgage research, the initial records that we find do not give us the street address of the house we want to find. What we work from, is the legal description of the lot where the house was built. If we're lucky, we have sufficient resources at our disposal to locate the subdivision mentioned in the legal description, and then something to help us pinpoint the lot. In the case of Cuyahoga County mortgages, I'm using a mix of online resources, now that I have printed-out copies of the key pages of the mortgages: 

• Cuyahoga County's plat records, searching by book and page number
• Cuyahoga County's GIS platform
• Cuyahoga County's MyPlace property information platform
• Google maps (our best buddy!)

I supplement with research in Ancestry.com, and Newspapers.com, when needed, but the Cuyahoga County records are proving to be a great resource.

Here's the key info I needed, from the legal description. Having a street name mentioned is a big plus, as well, and that is not always part of a lot's legal description.

Since I learned that I needed to find lot number 135 in the Shaker Allotment Company's Subdivision No. 1, I went to map book volume 41, page 14, and that gave me the scan of the old map of this subdivision of Cleveland Heights.

Fortunately, the street names haven't all changed, so I was able to find Clarendon Road on Google maps (sometimes, street names of a neighborhood have all changed, and I can't locate where on earth the subdivision is... very frustrating). Armed with this information, I plopped down anywhere on Clarendon Road, to just get myself an existing address on Clarendon Road. Armed with that, I am able to go to the more modern version of the maps, the GIS. However, since this county's GIS is not searchable by Subdivision names (some are, some aren't), I need an actual address to pull up the area's map. With that, I can then zoom in to the map of lots, close enough to see lot numbers. If I'm lucky enough to find my lot, I can click on it, and up comes the address (as well as the name of the current owner, and a link to the county's online Property Info resource, MyPlace).

So that, my friends, is how we find the lots that our Sears houses sit on! Well, at least, that's how we're finding them in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Every county, in every state around the country, seems to have its own system, or, I should say, its own set of available online records. So, the search varies from one county to another, but this is the kind of information that we have to pin down.

Back To The House

All of that brings me back to the point of my blog post... to show you Bennett F. Sperry's wonderful Sears Columbine. I have to say, we're not all in love with the dark colors of the house on Clarendon Road, but I think, after seeing it in person, up (somewhat) close, that it works for me. Sometimes, we like to see lighter colors, that show off the details a little more, but I love that this house has its original wood siding. It really makes such a huge difference. Let's take a look at just a few more exterior photos (note that the house is the reverse floor plan to the catalog image, so the dormer, and the side entry door, that you see on the catalog image, are on the other side of the house... I'll flip the catalog image to show you what I mean):

Now you can see what a good match it is, eh? The pergolas on each side of the front porch roof are gone (or were never there), but we've seen a bit of variety in the treatment of the Columbine's front porch roof.

Here's a shot from the front:

That's what I've got for this sweet Sears Columbine! I don't have any interior photos of this one. If you'd like to see more information about the Columbine model, and see some other Columbine examples, take a look at this previous blog post of mine.

We do have two Columbines with interior real estate photos, so you can take a look at these two:

This Columbine in Albany, NY, has a listing

This Columbine in Troy, New York, has a listing

We certainly do appreciate when homeowners avoid the trap of slapping on vinyl siding (it's really terrible for the life of the existing wood under it), but I know that many people find the paint upkeep of wood siding to be financially challenging. But, you have to admit... the houses look so much better with painted wood or cedar shingle siding. So, thanks, folks who now live at 3407 Clarendon Road! We love your house :)

Sears Wareham & Other Sears Houses In Colonia, New Jersey

Probable Sears Wareham (No. 203) • 453 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey

Sears Wareham, 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Colonia, New Jersey, sits in Woodbridge Township, and is part of Middlesex County, New Jersey. I've only just started mortgage research there, but early work has led us to Fairview Avenue, where we find, in the space of two blocks, these Sears Modern Home models:

• Sears Wareham
• Sears Sunbeam
• Sears Langston
• Sears Starlight
• Sears Vallonia
• Sears Clyde
• Sears Elmwood or Sunbeam

Not all of these houses have been documented (yet) with mortgage records, but several have. Records are a little bit challenging to access, in Middlesex County, but we're hoping to authenticate more, as research continues.

Sears Wareham

My most exciting find, was a probable Sears Wareham. To date, we have only one other on our National Database of Sears Houses In the U.S.. It was found by researcher Lara Solonickne, of Sears Homes of Chicagoland, via newspaper research. The home sits at 223 Route 28, Bridgewater, New Jersey, which is in Somerset County. The owners have found Sears shipping labels, so we have listed this as authenticated. It's a perfect match for the Wareham (though it now has an addition on the back):

Sears Wareham • 223 Route 28, Bridgewater Twp, New Jersey

We learned about this home's existence thanks to a 1989 Courier-News newspaper article, but we had to do some serious digging to locate the address.

June 16, 1989, page 35, Courier-News 

Our Middlesex County Sears Wareham, was found because there are documented Sears houses across the street, and down the block. It is almost a perfect match, but it is missing one small upper window for a closet, and, for some reason (that we can never understand) a couple of first-floor windows on the right side, were covered over when new siding was added, or were never in place. But, the Wareham has some very distinctive features, and the one at 453 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, NJ, follows all of the patterns for the break in the roof, the placement of brackets, and the unusual placement of two windows almost touching the front door.

The upper middle closet window is missing, and the pairs of windows -- which are for the two front bedrooms upstairs -- have the windows pushed slightly over toward the edge of the house. But, this model was not a pre-cut house, so owners tended to make more of these slight customizations for those "not cut or fitted" houses.

Windows on the left side of the house are a great match, except for another small closet window being covered, or eliminated.

The Wareham is the only model we know of, that has these two front windows almost touching the side of the front door.

Here is a closer shot of that door with its 2 windows next to it:

The structures for the porch, and the triple windows-front door-double window setup, help us identify this house.

The Wareham was first offered by Sears in the 1913 catalog, as the No. 203. The name was changed to Wareham in the 1918 catalog (when all of the models were given a name, and were marketed principally through that... though the number was still included in the catalog listing), and was continued through the 1923 catalog. Let's take a look:

For a few short years, the models were all given the "264P" prefix. 

Sears Sunbeam
Across the street from the Wareham, are two lots holding Sears mortgages signed by Sears trustee Walker O. Lewis, from July of 1923, for a company with the name of Blackwood & Schroeder, HRC.

Sitting at 450 Fairview Avenue, is a Sears Sunbeam. This model was first known as the No. 162, and then as the Elmwood, but 1922 saw some slight changes made, and the name changed to Sunbeam.

Sears Sunbeam in the 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Sears Sunbeam at 450 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, NJ • This 2007 Google streetview image shows the original look of the house, which matches the catalog image well. You can just see the two sets of triple windows flanking the front door. 

The 2012 and 2018 Google Streetview images show a newly renovated home. Sadly, it has lost its trademark 5-piece Sears brackets, the bank of four windows in the dormer has been reduced to two, and the large, triple windows on either side of the front door, have been reduced to smaller doubles. The original Sears front door has been replaced, as well. We love to see Sears kit houses taken care of, but wish that renovations would respect the original character of the home.

Sears Langston
Two houses away, at 460 Fairview Avenue, is another lot with a Sears home mortgaged in July 1923. This house is a Sears Langston. The front porch has been enclosed, and one of the left-side windows covered over, as is the original window in the dormer. As a result, without a mortgage, we would only be able to guess that this is a Langston... or its 1925-introduced second version, the Gladstone . You can read about the evolution of this model, in this 2015 blog post of mine.

460 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey • 1923 Sears Langston

Sears Langston in the 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog. Image courtesy of our friend at Daily Bungalow/Antique Home.

Sears Langston floor plan, as shown in the 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog.
Image courtesy of our friend at Daily Bungalow/Antique Home.

To give you an idea of what the Sears porch columns look like, and what the interior of a Langston looks like, check out these Zillow listings:

• Sears Langston in North Aurora, Illinois (Unfurnished, in lovely condition, with original, unpainted oak woodwork; Added to our national database by Lara Solonickne)
• Sears Langston in Covington, Kentucky (Furnished, good views of the layout of the rooms )
• Sears Langston in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky (Furnished, original woodwork, added to our national database by Cindy Catanzaro.)

Sears Starlight
The third 1923 mortgage for Blackwood & Schroeder, is for a house on the next block of Fairview. I could not figure out what model it was, because it is now a big, two-story four-square style, with a big, clipped-gable dormer, and a "skirt" (or "peplum", as I like to call it) of roofing all around it at the center. That matches nothing at all in the Sears catalogs. But, researcher Marie Vore took a good look at the side window patterns, and declared it to surely have been a Sears Starlight... originally. But, to look at it now, you'd never think that it was that modest, square, hip-roof bungalow, with a covered front porch. Let's see what we've got.

Authenticated 1923 Sears Starlight (2nd-story added) • 487 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey (Woodbridge Twp)

Sears Starlight in the 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

There you go! A double-height Sears Starlight, with the front porch enclosed, and a the original dormer roof  used for the new front porch roof. We think that the lookalike roof dormer is a bit larger, and probably just added.

Here are some more views of the 1923 catalog images for the Starlight:

Here's a nice-looking 1929 Sears Starlight on Keith Street, in Chicopee, Massachusetts, that has some very nice original detailing visible, in the interior.

Sears Vallonia
Two houses to the left of the super-sized Sears Starlight, is another house with a mortgage. This home was built in 1924, for Alexander and Isabelle Brown, who took out a $4,000 mortgage with Sears, signed off on by Sears trustee William C. Reed. It has had an addition put onto the front, and new siding, but we can see enough of the sides to realize that it was, originally, a reverse-floorplan Sears Vallonia.

485 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey • Authenticated 1924 Sears Vallonia

Note the seven purlins (the sort of straight bracket-like pieces jutting out under the eaves). We see this on the Vallonia, but not on all bungalows. Some bungalows use exterior angled brackets, for instance. The similar Sears Sheridan, has fewer purlins. (Thanks, Andrew Mutch, for always reminding us of this!)

Purlins, Rafters, Joists, Ridgeboard (source)

The Vallonia's flloor plan, as shown in the 1923 catalog.

The price of the Vallonia in my 1924 catalog, is just shy of $2,000 (and the 1923 price was just a touch over $2,000), but the Browns took out a $4,000 mortgage. That would have included extra costs like plumbing and electric, but the Browns no doubt also wrapped in the cost of construction, as was a very common practice.

• Here's a 2018 listing for this house, with interior photos
• Here's a 2017 listing for this house, with very different-looking interior photos
• And, here's a really sweet little authenticated Vallonia in Columbia, Illinois, with very original interior photos, and original, unpainted woodwork

Sears Clyde
Across the street from the super-sized Starlight, and the added-onto Vallonia, is what appears to be a Sears Clyde, that has had an addition added on to the side, making it look like a little ranch, instead of like a shotgun bungalow. I don't have a mortgage for this one (yet), but I'll bet it had one. Note the five-piece brackets, that are so often seen on Sears models.

Probable Sears Clyde at 480 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey

Sears Clyde in the 1923 Sears Modern Homes catalog

If we put this Bing maps view on top of the catalog image, and chop off the house a bit, on the right, you can see how it's a Clyde:

Looks like it must be an enlarged Clyde, don't you think?
I know that I had some help from the research crew on this one-- Andrew Mutch, I think.

Here's a closeup of those brackets. We call them 5-piece brackets, because the first two pieces are the L shape that attaches to the house, the third piece is the center stick that juts out, and the 4th and 5th pieces are the two pieces parallel to each other, into which that center stick inserts itself:

Five-piece Sears brackets, on 480 Fairview Avenue

• Here's a Sears Clyde in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in pretty original condition, whose floors are original, but they need a good refinishing! There's some really nice original woodwork in here.
• Another Sears Clyde in the middle of a renovation at sale time. Floors look to have been painted over, but ignore that, and you'll get a good look at the interior of a Clyde. This one is in Columbus, Ohio.

Sears Elmwood or Sunbeam
The final Sears house on Fairview Avenue, is this undocumented house, that may be an Elmwood, or may be a Sunbeam. There are normally ways to tell the difference, but we'd need to have an unenclosed front porch, and / or some interior views of the living room. Sears changed the model name in 1922, and all of the houses on these two blocks of Fairview seem to have been built in those first few years of the 1920s. So... hard to say. Also, the assessor's office gives a 1915 build date, but those are often wrong (sometimes they reflect the date that the lot was built, or they were mis-read from an old, hand-written document.... this could have been 1925, for example). But, as researcher Karen DeJeet has pointed out to us, the Sunbeam has an exterior chimney on the left side, for the furnace vent... the Elmwood has that enclosed inside that wall. This house does not have that chimney. However, to complicate things, there are a couple of very close lookalike models from plans-only companies (not kits), that also do not have that exterior furnace vent chimney. So, more research is needed. For now, here are photos of a possible Sears Elmwood or Sunbeam, at 473 Fairview Avenue:

473 Fairview Avenue, Colonia, New Jersey • Possible Sears Elmwood or Sears Sunbeam
This is the side where we should see an exposed furnace vent chimney, if this is a Sunbeam.

Look at the cute little five-piece brackets that were made to support this bay-style window of the enclosed front porch!

Where Is Colonia, New Jersey?
Growing up in Plainfield, New Jersey, I can't say that I had ever heard of Colonia. But, I have heard of Woodbridge, and Colonia sits in Woodbridge Township, in Middlesex County. I left Plainfield in 1972, but I do remember that Woodbridge had a very nice, big mall when I was growing up. It was one of the first big enclosed malls, built in 1971, according to this website -- it's apparently now called Woodbridge Center (and, a visit there "is sure to delight the entire family" Ha!)

I like this little image created for Colonia Middle School. It gives you a rough idea of where to find Colonia:

But these two state images, from Wikimedia Commons, zoom in on Middlesex County, and then highlight where, in that county, we can find Colonia:

We think that Middlesex County is chock full of Sears houses. I'm hoping for continued research in June. You know I'll be back with more!