Thank you Howell!

This past week, Wendy and I presented on "Michigan Kit Homes" at the Howell Carnegie District Library. Even though it was a cold and wet evening outside, we had a good size crowd in attendance including a couple of people who had kit house connections to share with us. We'll be following up on those leads to see if we can turn them into kit house finds! One of the interesting aspects of the kit houses located in Howell is that Howell is home to at least 3 "generations" of Aladdin kit houses - an early Aladdin "Venus", a 1930s-era Aladdin "Lindbergh/Madison" and a 1950s-era Aladdin "Coronado". The first and last house were shared with us by fellow kit house researcher Dale Wolicki, who documented many of the kit houses located in Howell in the early 2000s. Thanks Dale!

Judith Chabot Interview

Judith Chabot, one of the members of our research group on Facebook, was recently interviewed by the Saint Louis Business Journal about her interest in kit houses and why and how she got started researching them. In addition to the print version, the Business Journal did a short video interview with Judith that you can watch below. Judith did want us to note one small correction - Bea Lask did her research in and around Cincinnati in the 1980s, not the 1970s as was stated in the video.

Welcome Wall Street Journal Readers

Sears Sherburne - Berkley, Michigan

If you landed here from the Wall Street Journal 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 over 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!
• Yes, Virginia, Sears Homes Were Built After 1940: Fellow kit house blogger Lara Solonickne documents the fact that Sears continued to sell kit houses after 1940.
• View the real estate listing for a Sears Alhambra in Milford, Massachusetts. This is one of the nicest examples I've seen of this unique Sears house. 

Sears Alhambra - Milford, Massachusetts
Image courtesy of Zillow

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!

Kit Houses of Cleveland Park

If you live in the Washington DC area, take advantage of this opportunity on October 1, 2017 to hear fellow kit house researcher Catarina Bannier present on kit houses and visit an actual Sears catalog house! Seating is limited so don't miss out!

Where are the Sears Houses - August 2017 Edition

3 Oak St - Beacon, NY
Sears Lakecrest

Wow, that was quick! It was just over a month ago that the national database of Sears Modern Homes passed the 7,500 home mark. In less than 6 weeks, the list of homes has grown by over 500 homes, passing 8,000. As the members of our group of kit house researchers like to see how they're doing in their respective states, we are revisiting the breakdown of location of houses by state and comparing that to our previous update in June 2017. Let's take a look!