Kit House Presentation at the Royal Oak Historical Museum

Image courtesy of the Royal Oak Historical Society

If you're in the Detroit, Michigan area, there's an opportunity to learn more about kit houses at the Royal Oak Historical Museum. Through the end of January 2016, the museum is doing an exhibit related to the history of homes in Royal Oak titled "Royal Oak - Farm to Suburbs - Logs, Kits and Bricks". Wendy and I were asked by the museum to put together the "Kit" part of the exhibit. The Historical Museum is housed in an old fire house that used to belong to the City of Royal Oak's Fire Department.


In our section of the exhibit, you'll see examples of kit homes located in Royal Oak including those from Aladdin, Sears and Wardway. Wendy put together a series of models highlighting the process of building a kit house. You'll also be able to see examples of actual kit house catalogs and blueprints from a Sears house. We also put together a binder of all of the kit houses that we've identified in Royal Oak, most of which have been authenticated via mortgage or sales records, well over 60 houses in total. I've included a couple of photos showing what's on display. If you stop in, let the museum staff know we sent you there!

Learn about an Aladdin house built in Royal Oak

Blueprints for a Sears Mitchell

A display on the process of building a kit house

Your kit house has arrived!