2015 - A Look Back on the Blog

Sears Hamilton

When 2015 started, there was no "Kit House Hunters" blog. Although several of my fellow kit house researchers had been encouraging/prodding me to start a blog for some time - usually following  comments from me like "this would make good material for a blog post" - I had kept putting it off. I think I was concerned that I wouldn't have time to keep up with it or that I might not have enough material to post regularly. I'm still not sure I don't have enough time to keep on it but I haven't lacked for material! Finally, in August 2015, I took the plunge by creating this blog and publishing my first post titled "In the Beginning" that explained how my interest in kit houses got started.

Sears Winona in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan

31 Kensington Blvd - Pleasant Ridge, Michigan - Sears Winona
Image courtesy of Bing Maps

I discovered this Sears Winona in Pleasant Ridge, Michigan through a mortgage with Sears Roebuck. It's one of the over 300 Sears houses in Oakland County that I was able to locate by researching mortgage and deed records. This Sears Winona also has the distinction of being the oldest Sears house still standing that I was able to locate using mortgage records (although not the oldest Sears house in the county). This house was financed by Earl Lamberton for $3,000 in December 1919 through a mortgage with Sears trustee Walker O. Lewis. 

Sears Houses of Poets' Corner (Hartsdale), New York - Hartsdale Lawns

49 Shelley Ave - Hartsdale, NY - Sears Brookwood
Image courtesy of Google Maps

I recently blogged about a number of Sears homes that I was able to identify in the Hartsdale Manor section of the Poets' Corner area of Hartsdale, New York. The other half of the Poets' Corner area is the Hartsdale Lawns subdivision plat. Like its neighbor to the south, the streets of Hartsdale Lawns were named after prominent poets. Hartsdale Lawns is also home to a number of Sears houses including several that I've been able to match to mortgages that were financed through Sears Roebuck. Let's take a look at what I was able to find.

Sears Houses of Poets' Corner (Hartsdale), New York - Hartsdale Manor

77 Holmes Ave - Hartsdale, NY -  Sears Lynnhaven
Image courtesy of Google Maps

My recent discovery of a possible Sears Gateshead happened as I was tracking down houses with Sears mortgages in the Hartsdale area of Westchester County, New York. Hartsdale is an unincorporated part of the Town of Greenburgh that has developed its own identity in part because it has its own post office and railroad station.

Hartsdale appeared on my radar when I discovered that there were a number of houses that were financed through Sears that were built in the Hartsdale area. Most of these houses were built in an area of Hartsdale known as Poets' Corner. Poets' Corner gets its name from the naming of the local streets after prominent poets including Keats, Milton, Poe and Shaw. Poets' Corner is primarily made up of the Hartsdale Lawns and Hartsdale Manor subdivision plats. Today, we'll explore the Sears houses of Hartsdale Manor.

Sears Gateshead in Hartsdale, New York

Image courtesy of Sears Archives

I like to think that I follow a particular methodology when searching for kit houses - methodically reviewing old mortgages and deeds, matching names and properties to homes and matching those houses to known models from Sears, Wardway and other kit house companies. But sometimes, you have to admit to yourself that it's just serendipity when the search leads to a model you've never seen before. Such was the case with the most recent "discovery" of a possible Sears kit house in Hartsdale, New York.