I don't know who mentioned it or in what context, but I learned a few days ago that there is at least one "Sears house" in Morehead City, N.C. The house is on the block I grew up on, and my sister actually lived in it for a while 35 years ago. Actually, now I've learned that it's a Montgomery Wards house...
Early in the 20th century, people could order pre-fabricated "kit houses" from the Sears or Wards catalog. I know the people (or at least one person) who lived in this house, but nobody seems to remember exactly when it was built here. It was slightly famous around town because it has a basement, whereas most of the older local houses are built on brick pilings with just a crawl space under the main floor. Newer local houses are often built on concrete slabs or, more and more often, on tall stilts.
Maybe Judith ("seinejudeet") will know what kit house model this is. [See Judith's commen below.]
P.S. Our water service was re-established yesterday at about 2 p.m. That means we didn't have running water for 30 hours. It was nobody's fault, I'm sure. Just bad luck. The management brought us a couple of gallons of water in jugs that we could use to flush the toilet. Anyway, things are back to normal now.
Imagine the poor people of Puerto Rico, most of whom who have been without running water for about a month. And without electricity.
ReplyDeleteThere must have been a great deal of satisfaction in taking all those bits and pieces from Sears and turning them into a lovely house like that.
Yes, no comparison with the plight of so many Puerto Ricans. But for the senior citizens who live here this has not been easy.
DeleteOh my! A kit house! Well, as so often happens, over the years, people in a town grow to call a house that came as a kit, a "Sears house", but that's because they only knew of that company (kind of like using a "Kleenex" or making a "Xerox" copy... could have been some other company's tissue or photocopier). In this case, this house is not a model offered by Sears. But, it looks quite possibly to be the Potomac model, offered by Wardway Homes (Montgomery Ward's kit-home company). We usually look for them to be an exact match, and there is a little something "off" about the space where the porch columns attach to the porch roof, but it's the most likely match. Here's a link to a catalog image of the model .
ReplyDeleteKen, would you mind telling me what street this is on in Morehead? I'd like to add it to our national database. Merci!
By the way, one little point of clarification: the kit homes aren't actually pre-fabricated (because that sounds like they were bought partially constructed). They were pre-cut... all of the lumber pieces (framing, joists, rafters) were cut to size, and labeled with letters and numbers, and an instruction book came with the kit. The homeowner (or his or her construction crew) followed the instructions and constructed the house on site!
Thanks for including this today!
Judith
Thanks for all that information, J. So the houses were actually constructed and not just assembled. That's interesting. The house is at 105 S. 15th Street in Morehead City. The name of the family that lived there back when was Bloodgood.
DeleteRIght, Ken (this is Judy), they were constructed on site, after the building supplies were all shipped to a nearby train station, and then transported by the owner to the building site!
DeleteI love Judith's posts on kit houses -- most of which do seem to be Sears. This should give her an excuse to try to time a visit to the Carolinas when you are there, Ken! Next trip will have to be when school is not in session.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Ward's did house kits. How interesting.
ReplyDeleteJudy, on the house, by something off....do you mean the bottom of the pediment, just above the columns, may have had boards added at some point, covering the original molding?
Have you seen this website, "Old House Dreams?" It features historic homes listed for sale around the country. It often has Sears homes listed:
https://www.oldhousedreams.com/
Yes, Diogenes (this is Judy), it's that pediment space. See how, on the catalog image, it shows it about twice as thick as what is on the house. I wonder if the foundation (or the porch) of the house was built a little too high, and then the columns couldn't fit, unless they stripped down the pediment a bit.
DeleteYes, I see exactly what you mean. Also different from the catalog picture is that the cornice or molding running above the windows is missing.
DeleteKen, here's another house we believe to be a Wardway Potomac, in Lombard, IL.
ReplyDeleteJudy
What a charming little house ! I would fit in it just right :)
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm a French reader from Touraine, I love reading expats blogs and i'm also fond of French and American houses (Old House Dreams and Restoring Ross are some of my daily readings). Among all of the other websites and blogs i read from time to time, is yours :-) And there's also the Architectural Observer, and when i saw this post of yours about this house, it instantly reminded me of the AO's post: http://architecturalobserver.com/altered-examples-of-the-mayflower-mount-vernon-cabot-stratford/
ReplyDelete