The Early Sears Houses of Massapequa Park

Sears Priscilla
Massapequa Park, New York

As I outlined in a series of blog posts, through the work of several kit house researchers, we've been able to document the location of several dozen Sears kit houses located in Massapequa Park, New York. While we haven't been able to authenticate those houses with mortgages, newspaper articles from the early 1930s helped us identify and authenticate the ten houses that were built on Glengariff Road and Tyrconnell Avenue. But one Sears connection we weren't able to establish are the houses that are located on the north side of Massapequa Park. That is until now. Thanks to some sleuthing by a fellow kit house researcher, we can now demonstrate that the houses on the north side of Massapequa Park are also from Sears Roebuck. Let me show you how!

Where are the Sears Houses - December 2017 Edition

1046 W Jackson St - Painesville, OH
Sears Vallonia
Image courtesy of Google Maps

The holidays are almost upon us and as 2017 comes to a close, my fellow kit house researchers have been keeping busy finding Sears houses. The national database of Sears houses passed the 9,000 house mark which means it's time for another update of "Where are the Sears Houses?" It's been about two months since the last update, which has been the pace for the past year with the list growing by about 500 homes every two to three months. Here is the breakdown of location of houses by state based on approximately 9,000 homes in the database. Let's take a look!

Searching for Kit Houses using Zillow

If you've ever bought or sold a house or are just interested in what your house may be worth, you are probably familiar with the real estate listing site Zillow. Every day, thousands of houses across the country are listed for sale or rent on Zillow. These listings usually include a set of interior and exterior photos of the home. Searches can be done as broadly as the entire country down to a specific address. As you can imagine, this kind of resource has a lot of potential to help kit house researchers find and explore potential additions to the various databases of homes. I have used Zillow to successfully find hundreds of kit houses and if you are interested in finding kit houses in your area, it can help you quickly review a lot of houses without having to know exactly where those houses are located. Let's learn how!

Sears Americus in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

One of the more popular Sears models, at least according to our national database of Sears houses, is the Sears Americus. It's also one of the most distinctive models that Sears sold, easily singled out from other homes of the same era. To date, over 175 examples of the Americus have been located around the United States. It's hard to say whether its popularity on the list is due to its actual sales number or its distinctive design, which makes it easy to identity. Whatever the case may be, once you've seen one Sears Americus sporting its original design, you should have no problem spotting more. Fortunately, I have a fine example of the Sears Americus to share. Let's check it out!

ID this House! Sears Newark

30 Bellwood Ave - Dobbs Ferry, NY - Sears Newark
Image courtesy of Zillow

Westchester County, New York is home to hundreds of identified and authenticated Sears houses. You'll find Sears houses in almost every community in the county and Dobbs Ferry is no exception. Dobbs Ferry is home to several of the most popular models offered by Sears like the Americus, the Cornell and the Starlight. But it is also home to one of the less common examples - the Sears Newark. I've previously written about the Newark but a recent example that I came in Dobbs Ferry is a great match for the Newark and a good candidate for the "ID this House!" series. Let's learn to ID this house!