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!

Sears Medford in Little Falls, New York

I recently was searching one of my favorite online resources for historical newspapers from New York, FultonHistory.com. I was looking for newspaper articles related to the Sears Modern Homes program that were newly added to their collection. One of the articles that I found led me to a rare Sears model - the Medford - in Little Falls, New York. Lara Solonickne, who blogs over at the Sears Homes of Chicagoland, coined the name the "Rare 10" for a group of Sears models that were introduced in 1939 and the Medford is one of them! This house in Little Falls is only the second example in our national database. Let's take a look!

Behold the Future of Kit House Research

Earlier this month, fellow kit house researcher Catarina Bannier announced the launch of a new interactive map that features all of the authenticated kit houses located in the Chevy Chase section of  Washington DC.

Map of Historic Chevy Chase Kit Houses
Image courtesy of Catarina Bannier

As Catarina shared in her announcement, this area of Washington DC is home to almost 100 kit houses that have been authenticated using building permits and mortgage records. The interactive map not only documents the location and model of each house but includes catalog images for the specific model and images of the homes themselves. I created a similar kind of interactive storybook - on a much smaller scale - for the Sears houses located in the Oakwood Subdivision of Northville, Michigan.

Databases of Houses

Image courtesy of
Clarke Historical Library

In a recent post, I shared some of the data that I was able to extract from the national database of Sears homes. That database is the most frequently mentioned in my posts. But it's not the only database being maintained by myself and my fellow kit house researchers. There's seven databases representing the major kit house companies that sold houses nationwide as well as one regional company that sold houses across the northeast United States. While none of these others have the number of homes that can be found in the Sears database, some of them have a significant number of homes. The homes that are included in the respective databases can assist homeowners, historians and researchers authenticate and identify kit houses in their communities.