Kit House Hunters

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Sears Winthrop in Commerce Township, Michigan

When I reviewed the Sears mortgages in Oakland County, Michigan, I discovered exactly one house in Commerce Township, Michigan. This wasn't entirely surprisingly as Commerce Township was primarily a farming community during the period that Sears was selling houses with mortgages. But there was a railroad line that ran through southern Commerce Township and there were areas that had been platted around some of the many lakes in Commerce. It was in one of these platted lakeside subdivisions where we found this Sears Winthrop.

Welcome Atlas Obscura Readers!

If you landed here from the Atlas Obscura article about kit houses, check out these links to learn more about what we do and about the history of kit houses.

In the Beginning: How we got started!
The Great Sears Paper Trail: Learn how we use documents, some almost 100 years old, to find Sears houses.
Sears Mortgages of Washington DC: One of our biggest research projects that led to the discovery of a lot of big kit houses!
Sears Houses of Massapequa Park, New York - Grand Boulevard: One of our projects to document Sears houses around the United States. If you are interested in seeing many examples of Sears houses, check this out!
The Lost Sears Houses of Hazel Park, Michigan: An in-depth exploration of streetcar suburbs and kit houses.

After you visit the blog, join the Sears Modern Homes Facebook page to see many more examples of kit houses from Sears and other kit house companies. Interested in reading more? Check out the kit house blogs linked under "More about Catalog and Kit Homes" on the right hand side of the page. Thank you for visiting!

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Sears Vallonia in South Whitley, Indiana

406 North State St - South Whitley, Indiana - Sears Vallonia

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Wendy and I spent a couple of days kit house hunting in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with two of the top experts in kit houses, Rebecca Hunter and Dale Wolicki (more on that soon!) After we all parted ways, Wendy and I made our way through the back roads of North Central Indiana on our way to Lake Michigan. Our route included a drive through South Whitley, Indiana where I had seen a real estate listing for a possible Sears house. South Whitley is your quintessential one stoplight, Midwestern farming community with a small "Main Street" downtown surrounded by neighborhoods of older homes and miles of farmland. You can often find at least one or two examples of kit houses in towns like this and South Whitley has at least one house we believe is from Sears Roebuck.

The Curious Case of the Sears Claremont in Waterford, Michigan

61 Cristy - Waterford, Michigan

After first discovering the real estate listing for the Sears Hamilton in Waterford, Michigan, I drove over to Cristy Street to check it out. Just a few houses down on the same block, another house caught my eye. At first glance, it looked like a Sears Claremont. But something didn't look right. I realized that while the overall layout of the house matched the Claremont, the front entry did not. It was close. But the angles on the roofline of the front entry were off. While we know that changes can happen to the exterior of homes that will cause them to not match the catalog image, I just didn't feel confident that I could say that behind that slightly skewed entry was a Sears Claremont.

Sears Willard in Fort Mitchell, Kentcuky
Photo courtesy of Cindy Cantanzaro

If you haven't seen the latest posts from some of my favorite kit house bloggers, check them out!

Sears Homes of Chicagoland - Elgin's Kit Houses: Lara explores why Elgin, Illinois is home to the most identified Sears houses in the Chicago area.
Sears Houses in Ohio: Cindy took a trip to Fort Mitchell, Kentucky and found a lot of Sears houses there!

Sears House Seeker: Judith posts about a couple of rare kit house models - one from Sears, the other from Wardway.