Thank you Howell!

This past week, Wendy and I presented on "Michigan Kit Homes" at the Howell Carnegie District Library. Even though it was a cold and wet evening outside, we had a good size crowd in attendance including a couple of people who had kit house connections to share with us. We'll be following up on those leads to see if we can turn them into kit house finds! One of the interesting aspects of the kit houses located in Howell is that Howell is home to at least 3 "generations" of Aladdin kit houses - an early Aladdin "Venus", a 1930s-era Aladdin "Lindbergh/Madison" and a 1950s-era Aladdin "Coronado". The first and last house were shared with us by fellow kit house researcher Dale Wolicki, who documented many of the kit houses located in Howell in the early 2000s. Thanks Dale!

One of the houses that we featured was the Sears "Vallonia" on East Sibley. It's a great example of the Vallonia and it still retains much of the exterior detail that made the Vallonia one of Sears top-selling models. 

501 E Sibley - Howell, Michigan - Sears Vallonia

One house that was supposed to be in the presentation but was accidently skipped over was the Sears "Winthrop" on Barnard Street. I accidentally hid the slide of the house while I was prepping the presentation and missed it in the flurry of showing houses. I was pleased to learn from one of the attendees that the current owner of the house is restoring the prominent front porch to its original design! She shared photos and it looks great! We can't wait to get back to Howell during the day time when we can snap a shot of the "Winthrop".

Catalog Image of Sears Winthrop
Image courtesy of Catarina Bannier

Last but not least, a big thank you to the "Friends of the Howell Carnegie District Library" who made the evening possible. Great Friends groups help make great libraries!

Do you know of any kit houses in the Howell, Michigan area? Share those with us in the comments!