100 + year old Sears kit house

[cobraman]

This is not too far from my house and I walk past it sometimes . 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Cool old house, fascinating part of history. Hope it gets restored.

More info on Sears kit houses for anyone interested:

https://www.oldhouseonline.com/house-tours/kit-houses/

https://www.searshouses.com/home

[iamsuperdan]

And to think how excited we get when a small box of plastic shows up in our mailbox.

Imagine when your entire house shows up as a model kit!

I wonder what I would do with the sprues.

Hmm...?

 

 

 

[TonyK]

Wonder if the original owners had an Allstate to drive too. ?

[cobraman]

At one time it was offered free but had to be moved and restored .  No takers . 

[espo]

2 hours ago, cobraman said:

At one time it was offered free but had to be moved and restored .  No takers . 

This is really a very interesting and historically significant building. There is a museum in Kansas City Mo. that is called the Steamboat Arabia. The museum contains the contents of the Steamboat Arabia that sank on the Missouri River over a hundred years ago. A local family raised the boat and the contents and display them in the museum. The contents are mainly everything you could think off that would be needed on the frontier, and this includes one of these house kits. 

[Goose1957]

I just wonder what happens in 20 years when the glue disingrates and it falls apart like all my childhood models did. ?

Jeff

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, Goose1957 said:

I just wonder what happens in 20 years when the glue disingrates and it falls apart like all my childhood models did. ?

Jeff

Looks like it's been there since at least the 1920s, so that might not be an issue... 

[von Zipper]

Our neighbor in Detroit had a Sears And Roebuck house built in the early 1930s

 

[KWT]

I dated a college girl for a while, and the sorority house she lived in was a sears house... It was set up back in the day with all the options to display what you could get. All the rooms were kinda mismatched.. It was a very interesting place.

[stavanzer]

There was a book about those Sears Houses.

I wanted it, but never got it.

I should track it back down again.

[OldNYJim]

Amazon is trying a smaller version of this concept right now (not that they’re the only ones doing it):

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-tiny-home-kit-allwood-getaway-cabin-loft-2019-7?amp

I’d need about 6 of them to build something actually useful though, and by that time I would’ve been better off just buying a regular house…plus I never manage to build a kit without deviating from the directions anyway ?

Cool option for a little structure in a backyard to use for guests maybe or a small home office 

[1972coronet]

Sears also used to offer - via their catalogue - a little "something" to "help" the builder along with this - and others - project...

[89AKurt]

In decent shape, for Arizona.  The wood shingles must have been replaced in recent decades.  The stone must be a veneer, and check out the columns.  Shed addition must have been built during WW2.  Old house enthusiasts would love to move that if the neighborhood is too Mad Max.

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 4/11/2023 at 8:49 PM, stavanzer said:

There was a book about those Sears Houses.

I wanted it, but never got it.

I should track it back down again.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2505460.m570.l1313&_nkw=sears+house+book&_sacat=0

[thatz4u]

there was one near the Ohio/indiana border in NW Ohio in Van Wert county

[stavanzer]

4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2505460.m570.l1313&_nkw=sears+house+book&_sacat=0

That second one down.

Thanks, Ace.

I've got a birthday coming up. I may spring for it.