Sears Elmhurst in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

This year, I've had quite the good fortune to locate a number of examples of the Sears Elmhurst, a high end model offered by Sears from 1929 - 1932. It's been a few months since I last spotted one but tonight, I came across another one, this time in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Aliquippa is located about 25 miles outside of Pittsburgh, which had an active sales office for Sears Modern Homes. This Elmhurst is currently listed for sale. Let's take a look!

Unlike some of the recent examples I've located, I don't have a mortgage record to authenticate this house as a Sears Elmhurst. But from what I can see, this house is an excellent match for the Elmhurst. Hopefully, with this lead, one of the local kit house researchers in the Pittsburgh area will be able to authenticate this house.

Catalog image of Sears Elmhurst (1929 Brick Supplement)
Image courtesy of Antique Home

2875 Brodhead Rd - Aliquippa, PA - Sears Elmhurst
Image courtesy of Zillow

As you can see from the real estate listing photo, this Elmhurst has a reversed orientation as compared to the standard layout in the catalog. But in this view, you can see that many of the elements that help identify this model match exactly to the catalog image. In particular, the arrangement of the windows and the decorative half-timbers with stucco on the front gable as well as the porch and stairway window all match with what you can see in the catalog image.

This real estate listing photo is kind of grainy but in it you can see the side entrance. I also highlighted with an orange arrow the decorative pediment that is also a distinct Elmhurst element.

2875 Brodhead Rd - Aliquippa, PA - Sears Elmhurst
Image courtesy of Zillow

The clincher for me is not visible in the real estate listing photos but can be seen from Google Streetview - the triple dormers on the second floor on the right hand side of the house. You can see those clearly in the image below.

2875 Brodhead Rd - Aliquippa, PA - Sears Elmhurst
Image courtesy of Google Streetview

The last image that helps us identify this as a Sear Elmhurst is from inside the house. While the interior listing photos didn't provide a lot of clues that would help match this to the Elmhurst, I did see one element I recognized - the wrought iron railing on the stairway from the first to the second floor as seen below.

2875 Brodhead Rd - Aliquippa, PA - Sears Elmhurst
Image courtesy of Zillow

Here's that same railing element in the 1932 Modern Homes catalog. The example below is from a Sears Elmhurst in the Cincinnati, Ohio area that Cindy Catanzaro was able to match up to the photos in the catalog.

Interior photo of Sears Elmhurst from the 1932 Sears Modern Homes catalog
Image courtesy of Archive.org

If you want to see more of the interior of the house, you can check out those photos at Zillow. If you live in the area and are in the market for a Sears kit house, here's your chance! While I didn't get a chance to do an extensive survey of Aliquippa, I did notice on the same street as the Elmhurst appears to be a Sears Barrington and Sears Belmont. That's quite a collection of Sears homes for one street!

If you know more about the history of this house or any other Sears Elmhursts, let us know in the comments!