Sears Gateshead in Washington DC

Catalog image of Sears Gateshead (1935)
Image courtesy of Antique Home

About a month ago, I shared a house in the Poet's Corner area of Hartsdale, New York that I was pretty sure was a Sears Gateshead. Pretty sure...but I didn't have any way to authenticate it as a Sears houses (unlike the other Sears houses in the area that had mortgages). Today, I'm able to share a Sears Gateshead with you with 100% confidence that it's the real deal. Why? Because this one comes with a mortgage from Sears! I discovered this Gateshead after discovering a new name of a person who served as a trustee for Sears and whose name appeared on mortgages in 1932 and 1933 from Washington DC. His name appeared on the mortgage for this house for $4,300 in October 1933. That's a little background on the house, let's see some photos!

This Gateshead is located in southeastern Washington DC, not far from the border with Maryland. There's a huge street tree almost in front of the house that makes it challenging to get a straight on view of the house.

2133 31st Pl SE - Washington DC - Sears Gateshead (2014)
Image courtesy of Bing Maps

You can see - as compared to the Hartsdale house - that the half-timber and stucco detail on the front of this house matches perfectly as it appeared in the Sears catalog.

2133 31st Pl SE - Washington DC - Sears Gateshead (2014)
Image courtesy of Google Maps

Someone asked me whether those are moose antlers on the front of the house? It sure looks like it. I'm pretty sure those didn't come with the house!

2133 31st Pl SE - Washington DC - Sears Gateshead (2014)
Image courtesy of Google Maps

The Gateshead was offered from 1933 - 1935, a time period when Sears sold relatively few kit houses so this is a rare find! If you know of any other Sears Gateshead houses, let us know!