Yes, but these were very good quality materials, using old growth forest hardwood, I doubt it would be the same quality as well as design as these were very detailed. Nowadays you can get a modular home.
There's a quite few Sears "kit" houses around Pittsburgh, Along with "Aladdin" and "Gordon Van Tine" (and other companies') kit houses. The suburbs of Pittsburgh were BOOMING at the EXACT era that "kit" houses were a "thing". Without finding the markings on the lumber, It's damned hard to tell a "pre-cut" kit house from a "regular" one. Modern folk tend to think that kit-houses are "pre-fab", But NO, they are built in the exact manner as any "regular" house, it was just that the material was pre cut to specification, making building much faster! - and led many homeowners to build for themselves! The finished building is the same as any other "regular" built house! Many post World War 1 AND World War 2 houses were built this way. The efficiency of construction led to Americans to live in "tract housing" and not "tower blocks" (like Europe). It was a good method!
@@jamesslick4790 I just somehow came to this video remembering the old day as the homes look familiar! Im from Pgh. as well. Born in the North Side, family moved to Mt Nebo when I was 3, The "Argyle " home here in the video reminds me of my old neighbors house..I miss these old times, and would go back in a heart beat compared to today.
@@terrythomas790 Your old neighbor's house very likely WAS a Sears Argyle! I currently live on the North Side, ("Mexican War Streets") of course my house is not a Sears house as it was built before there even WAS a Sears, Roebuck and Company. 🤔☺️ Nice to hear from someone else from the 'Burgh. An at!☺️
I was a realtor for 20 years in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sears homes were very popular here. Thousands of them still exist in some of the older neighborhoods. I recognized every single model you showcased. I think kit Holmes would be at least a partial solution to the housing crisis today.
It's not really a housing crisis. It's a land crisis. All the buildable land has been bought already, interest rates limit who can afford to buy and zoning restrictions keeps land use density low or prohibits building residential dwellings altogether. Large private equity and real estate trusts have bought up all remaining housing in order to maximize profits and control markets.
Great idea. I’m 70. I would love to have the opportunity to live in one during my last years. I’ve moved to a small community that has these all around but they are in rundown condition and people still live in them. The community doesn’t have the money to rehab these beauties for them and even if they did, there is a major shortage of construction minded people living here and the schools don’t teach any of the trades anymore. When we moved here it was to down size, be near family. Family got us into the home we bought but due to health concerns, aren’t able to finish the job. There were no other homes on the market so we ended up buying a home twice the size we need, can keep clean and are swiftly using up our retirement do to the housing shortage here. It’s very nice home just too big. A nice cottage home would be preferred. Sears always built the best, they were the benchmark for style and price in that era and I say bring them back. I support the young man who is going to build one and showing his build on line for us to view.
I can't wait for my sister to see this. She and her husband bought a 2 story Cape Cod Sears home 20 years ago and did a huge restoration, discovered glowing wood floors, giant pocket doors even the original 1930s wallpaper buried under years of paints, carpets, etc. They had to put on a new roof and replace the plumbing in the upstairs bath, but much of the house is original.
@@bodybuilderslave7125 I'm sure it's worth more than what my sister & her hubby paid for it 20 years ago, but I'm guessing 80K today. She lives in a VERY rural location.
@@jasondaniel918 I applaud your sister and husband for doing a renovation and actually keeps a good chunk of the original character More often than that when people renovate these old hoes they completely destroyed the character in them
I loved riding on the train! I'm originally from Texas and my family moved to Los Angeles in early 50s when I was 6. My mom, little sister and I arrived by train and I still remember the sound of the wheels on the tracks. Watching the land change and the small towns we passed. The most exciting thing was when we were almost at the train station, I saw the Los Angeles city hall. It's the one that is in start of The Adventures of Superman tv series! I kept looking at it in case I might just get to see Superman leap higher than the tallest building! It was certainly something to write about to the cousins in Texas! Last time I was on a train was in Williams, Arizona on an old coal train up to the Grand Canyon in 1993. Beautiful!
Rail runs right through my town to this day. What kills is we got rid of a lot of our rail. With the speed of passenger trains today we should be able to travel the country for pennies on the dollar
If you go to the town of Rockford, Illinois, there is an old neighborhood called 'Rolling Green'. In that 1930s-1940s neighborhood, you will find hundreds of these Sears & Roebuck Kit Homes. I even met my first love in that neighborhood! Thank you, Sears Roebucks & Co!
Wow! That's extraordinary. My family lived in Rockford for a few years and I had relatives who lived there many years. I need to make a trip back there and check that out some time.
We still have the Magnolia standing on our farm ground. And it was moved 3 miles across the bridge onto the hill. Back in 1925. It still retains its beauty and charm. It's has two small addition 1 in 1939 another 1958. We have all the blueprints the bill. The shipping dates. the neat part is it was ordered in the morning and arrived from Chicago on the afternoon train
@@halbud Not surprised! They're a woke company cause Bezos is a good political crony, and a modern day sweatshop who obviously ran off their good drivers!
I'm curious how it was ordered. Most of these were by mail order, did they have an account already set up with Sears and order it by phone or telegram?
@@JeffDeWitt according to the paperwork we have the letter was dropped in the post office in the morning and made the morning train and it was returned by the afternoon train the same day. The post office still sit two blocks from the railroad track there are pictures of the hook that they put the mail bag on for the train to pick up so the train didn't have to slow down. The afternoon train about 4 p.m. what come in from Chicago roughly a hundred fifty miles away from us and it would bring supplies and drop things off at the spur which oddly enough still Services the grain elevator just as it did back then just new grain elevator that's the closest I think I can come from the research I have
Our home is a Sears kit home that was built by my grandparents in the 1930's. Our home is well built and we still love our home to any new build home. Thanks for sharing 😍
In 1908 Sears offered an entire school through the homes catalog. For $10,000 a school district could buy the kit for an two-story brick school with six classrooms and even a small auditorium. It disappeared from the catalog after 1908 and no one seems to know if Sears actually sold any.
@@susanfudge1737 people can independently build a school in their community, and govt get subsidized pricing on cost of build so...why would they buy a sears one?
The large Magnolia home is still my absolute favorite. With the sun room on one end with a library and a covered parking spot that leads into the kitchen, with a terrace on top. Oh my heart! ❤
What's sad is to build it today with all the woodwork and detail, the average american family would not be able to afford it.....I still love this era of homes
I saw one from 1916, that I would absolutely love. It was two stories, and had three bedrooms. The only thing that I would want to change is to have a half bath on the first floor.
i work at a home depot, a customer came in with the original blueprints and parts list, what cost 2400 dollars back then would cost. 69,000 in 2019 and allot more now. but. hey hone depot will finance it. they are old school houses, narrow doors and steep stairs. the exterior is almost 100 percent cedar
The bungalow/craftsman homes built from the first part of the 20th century through the 1920s are often of wonderful craftmanship. I live in 1913 and love it. @Perry acting troll: What are you on about? Many of these homes were built by the people who bought them--one of the selling points was that all one needed was the ability to use basic tools and to read and understand instructions.
@@user-mv9tt4st9k my papaw built one of these houses many, many, many years ago. On the cheapest plot of land in the crappiest neighborhood in Ohio, right next to train tracks. So close the trains would shake the house. It was the only way my Mamaw and Papaw could’ve afforded a house.
@@user-mv9tt4st9k With the home my mom owns, they have the blueprints to the home and the person who built this home and one next door were brother and both floor plans are the same. We share the driveway with the neighbors because of that. Glad the neighbors are nice.
My grandfather built one of these when he got back from World War I. It’s still standing today! Thank you for the education on this. I wish my dad was alive to see your presentation, it would bring a smile to his face.☺️
When my grandpa was in British army,he was station in Washington DC.He got those catalogue and built one of these model back home.We still have this first model home stay strong back home on hill
I'll take a Magnolia please. Designed back when some pride went into the design. Now we all get the latest carbon copy stucco box out at Pressboard Acres.
The new home designs these days are 🤢🤮 Most of the really good designed modern homes are so expensive. I love these designs. Homes built in this era were built well.
My daughter owns a 106 year old house that I know had to be a Sears Catalog home. Built in 1915 for a Conductor of the Santa Fe Railroad. Even the horse stable in the back yard was turned into a garage, then turned into a Apt she rents out. I saw a picture of a horse in the stable a neighbor had. My daughter is in her 30's and loves the house, so I hope she keeps it for years to come. I help her with projects around the place and spend her money. We are keeping the lath and plaster walls, and the attic is insulated. It was never insulated before my daughter bought it 11 years ago! It's a well built house!! They just don't build them like they use to, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing!
I have an old catalog of the homes they sold back then that is almost too fragile to open but they also sold kits to build your own barns and other outbuildings.
My brother's neighborhood in upstate NY has a number of these homes. He lives in one with the garage made out of the packing materials the house parts came in.
My paternal grandparents home in Iowa is a Sears kit (No. 115) they purchased and built themselves in 1918. My father is the last of his siblings alive, and we did a lot of restoration when my grandmother passed away at 100 years old. Sears also offered extension packages for the houses, for when you built a model and needed to make it bigger. Ours has two different extensions, one before my father was born that extended the house into the side porch space, and a second he helped with during high school which added a good 12 feet of depth to the back of the house- both stories- and introduced indoor plumbing. We still own the property and a 2nd or 3rd cousin rents it from us. It's hard to believe that house is now 103 years old.
I can't imagine having everything to build a house all delivered at once. Talk about an overwhelming project if you didn't have builders in your family, and thought you could build it on your own.
Simply amazing. My grandfather told me of a friend of his that had bought a Sears Kit Home in the 20s back in Minnesota, I thought that he was pulling my leg. Year's later, I learned that it was true..Nice and well-researched video guys, I never miss an episode.
@Perry Golston Wow, looks as the musings of our reflections from the past has “woken” a troll. Fair question, he never mentioned “black” people...That satisfy your “cancel culture, woke” curiosity? Now crawl back to whatever slime pit you slithered from and go away, Cancel Culture days are numbered.
My dad spent his childhood in a a Sears kit cottage his father built in the early 1930's in Hudson, OH. It was amazing to see my dad's toddler hand prints in the sidewalk in front of the house. I think Sears kit houses were such a cool concept: the original modular house, and available in so many styles and sizes. Sev. years ago I was scrolling through many of the house plans on a website, and I realized that many of them didn't include a bathroom (!). I'm guessing those examples were pre-WWl, when indoor plumbing perhaps wasn't widespread yet.
The very last home shown here was the model my parents bought and built in 1952 in the Buffalo area. Still standing today, and renovated over the years to include an attached garage. Such a beautiful home!
The concept of house kits continued beyond the Sears era. My grandfather bought a kit in 1969 and built a little house out in the country north of Dixon, IL (Woosung). He was a carpenter by trade, so he was handy and capable. I remember going to visit him when we lived in Rockford to see the progress. I would love to find some of these homes and just look around them. The designs are quite nice and definitely of their time.
We live in a kit home. It is approximately 1100 sq feet, wood beam ceilings, cinderblock, old schooly windows. Love it! It was built in 1950. Wickenburg Az.
Trouble today is every city and every state has it's own codes and permits. The cost would still be expensive. It's a great idea to be able to order one from a book. Some I'm sure are still standing and are worth millions now !
Actually the trend these days, driven by insurance companies, is to "adopt by reference" the international standard codes. I will grant you there are a lot more codes nowadays pushing up costs.
My grandparents lived in a Sears house. Grandpa and my Dad thought it was the easiest to fix and repair. Years later when I bought my first house, it was built in the 1880's, I wished it was a Sears home because of the maintenance would have been easier. Cheers.
My mom and stepdad live in one that has had a later addition. It is a very strong, well-built home. I am sure that regular maintenance has played a huge role; but it is very nice.
Awesome !!! I never knew that so many styles were offered !!! There are several in the Florence , Darlington , Manning and Sumter South Carolina areas !!!!
My daughter owned a Sears kit home we believe was built maybe around 1910. 3 story brick with brick basement in Huntington WV. Walls were 2 ft thick, hardwood floors and plaster walls. This house has not settled even a hair and looks like it did 100 plus years ago. My parents home I grew up in was built in 1923 and is a Sears home, in Louisville KY. Same type brick, finish trim, front and back doors and hardwood floors as my daughter's home. It's amazing Sears put out such a quality product in its day
The first home I purchased was a Sears home. At closing I received the original sales flyer from Sears. (I still have the flyer today) original cost $1,250. I lived in it for 9 years. I purchased it in 1993 for $68K. So called Value now $450K. I loved that house and too this day I wish I had of kept that house. I still drive by it every now and then.
have worked on a few of them, once I found an attic space that had been closed off for years, found old books, and the paperwork for the house and blueprint and catalog that had all the materials listed, and their payment book were the man only paid 7.00 a month to pay for the house, the house was being re-hab to be sold and I found the original owners and gave all the stuff to them to add to their families history great homes god bless
After WWII, the City of Fort Worth, Texas gave land to returning soldiers (Veterans) upon which they could build a home. My Grandmother and Grandfather took advantage of this, and bought a sears kit home (which is still there today). They have long since passed away, but I still have the ledger my grandmother kept for every payment she made to Sears on her home.
I've lived in Tarrant and Denton counties for the last 20 yrs, and I love the old neighborhoods in Ft. Worth and Denton. What neighborhood is yr. grandparents' house in?
Our first house was a Sears house back in 1986. Bought it from original owners. It had all the original wallpaper, wool carpets, glass doorknobs, pushbutton light switches, leaded glass windows flanking the fireplace and my personal favorite the little butlers pantry with glass fronted China cabinet and swinging door to the dining room. I wanted the house because of that room. We lived there for 12 years. I miss it to this day. All the house inspectors who we had to have inspect it when we were selling it said it was a wonderfully solidly built house.
We live in a Sears Roebuck House. Two of the original family's children still live in the neighborhood and one has photos of the house kit arriving by train down about a quarter of a mile from here, and then being loaded onto a wagon and pulled by horses to the building site. I've got a book of Sears Roebuck houses but ours is not in it. It was built in 1927 and was plumbed and wired from the get-go, but electricity wasn't available here until the late 40s and the house was finally furnished with a full bath in 1959. There was a two seater outhouse (still usable) when we bought the place in 1982, although we did tear it down about 20 years ago. The garage, which was original, I believe, was torn down about 15 years ago. We have put on a metal roof and a wrap around porch but the inside has been returned to its orignal 3 bedroom layout, as the original owners/builders, had removed a wall to have a bigger livingroom. It would be fun to know the "real" original information about the house, though.
I live in one. Every house on my street is a Sears catalog house. A developer in the early 1930's bought all the land on my street and ordered 6 of these homes in 2 different styles. He hired a local carpenter to assemble them over an 18 month period. 4 of them are still here and in good repair. The other 2 were torn down in the 1980's due to falling into disrepair.
I love reading the comments on your videos: the personal memories, additional information, etc. That's why I don't like being the first to watch your videos but would rather wait. As a child I think I lived in a few Sears houses. They were solid.
My Aunt & Uncle have one of these KIT HOMES...it was built in 1950...here in Tucson, Az. It's a Three bedroom Two bath formal dining room living room galley kitchen and a double garage.. they added a big Arizona Room in the back area in 1965..
I lived in a Sears home for 7 years; it arrived by train and was built by my landlord in the early 50s. It was a duplex I turned into a one plex. It was well constructed, and I was happy to live there. Someone bought the house after the landlord died and turned it into a parking lot, makes me sad to see it gone. 😢
I know of several of these in the area I grew up in.. it helped the railroad bought a bunch of Sears kit homes and had em built in Greybull Wyoming for the railroad foremen and their families
I live in a Sears & Roebuck Catalogue Home called The Windsor built in 1924 by my Italian grandfather. The home has maintained its original architectural integrity. The home was named after The Duke of Windsor who eventually abdicated the throne of England for the woman he loved. According to the catalogue the purchase price was $1,580. The Magnolia home majestically sits on our city’s main thorough fare.
Thank you for this great video. I have always been a fan of historic homes, so a video like this is a treat. I wish I could buy one of those kits today!
My first home was a Whitehall model in Roxbury NJ. The quality of the lumber was magnificent, many of the wall studs had 0-2 knots and were solid 65 years after they were put up. One clue is that the roof rafters are all numbered in pencil, if you have access to the attic.
I lived in one in Eugene Oregon. Best put together and coolest place I have ever lived. The owners over the years kept original photos of the home and land around it. So interesting
In the town where i live (mount joy PA) I personally know of at least 3 of the sears houses but they are all the same model: modern home No.52. I find this concept very interesting, that I used it for a school project a while ago.
I lived in "The Argyle" model home in Amarillo, Texas. It was bought and built by a railroad engineer in 1924 approximately 3/4 mile from the train depot. It was a well-built and comfortable house. I was a young man and lived in it from 1974 to 1978 as a renter. It is still serving it's purpose as a home for a family.
My great grandparents bought and built one of these homes on their farm. It was a teeny tiny one bedroom bungalow. I believe it is still standing today!
I grew up in a Sears Kit home in way-upstate New York it was either the Haven or Cornell model...my parents added an addition and made a new kitchen and and added two more bedrooms. What was the kitchen was turned into a mud room/laundry/half bath. I was too young to remember the old kitchen but the living room had beautiful built in shelving and intricate crown molding on the windowsills and the opening to the dining room. It's still standing but the porch needs some repairs.
My home isn’t a Sears home, though I’d love love love to have one! My home is a 1965 brick ranch that my great aunt and uncle lived in until their deaths, the house my great aunt originally lived in was torn down for a highway in the 60’s so they bought this home. My great aunt was effectively my grandmother since she raised my dad after his mother’s passing. I love my home, it’s filled w holiday memories and memories of my great aunt sewing dresses for me and sometimes I can still smell her in the closet’s and such. There’s not a stitch of new furniture in this house and when my dad comes over he often says it’s like he’s gone back in time and that my great aunt and great grandmother are still here. All older homes should be loved for who they are and appreciated💗
When we looked for our home, I specifically looked for an old sears home. The quality is top notch. Our last home was built in the 1870s. So we are on the middle ground between primitive and modern.
I wonder if I might have lived in one of the bungalows. We moved around a lot and almost always rented; Dad had been a carpenter when he was younger and always made improvements wherever we lived. I remember him telling me how lath and plaster walls were built.
My family ordered and built one of these houses in 1919 probably one of the smallest ones they offered it's been remodeled and built on to several times but is still in the family
Most of the pieces of the Sears home kits were made in a plant three miles north of Cairo IL, at the southern tip of the state at confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The plant had two different rail yards and a small port on the Ohio River where much of the materials were shipped in. In the nicer part of Cairo today there are many Sears houses as employees got employee discounts buying them. Interstate 57 currently runs through the old plant location. Only reminder of plant are two dead end roads. Sears Rd from the east and Roebuck Rd from the west.
That's a lovely piece of history. Most of the houses realy look tasteful. I don't think we had anything like it here in the Netherlands. Atlhough I must say that the slightly more expensive homes build during the exact same time here are beautiful as well. Especially some of the art deco stuff.
Looking at these pictures, I think a home I owned in Nebraska, built in 1924, may be one of these Sears homes. It was beautifully built, and one of the most solid and well-insulated homes I've ever owned. It is still in great shape and a new family lives there now, in a 97-year-old kit house!
My great-grandfather built one of these homes on his farm back in the 20's. My grandad was born there, my dad grew up there, and I played there in the summer. Now it's in a state of decay, but oh well.
Yep , Mom and Dad had one built in 1950 . I was born and raised there . Cost $ 3050 , the extra $ 50 was for hard wood floors my Mom wanted . Still stands today with a sister living in it .
My town has a lot of Sears kit houses as the railroad comes right through the center of town and still has two sidings for trains to park on for loading the grains raised in this area. They were quality homes and had nice character.
In my area there was a boom in this time period with many towns being established as these where being offered. So you find a lot of these in various states all over SE Idaho. It was easy and quick, so much so that lumber yards here couldn't keep up with traditional demands to standard build and this filled that void. So yeah.... you drive through "old town" Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, etc etc etc you will find nearly every model in that catalog. And they are well built for the most part. Only thing you have to watch out for is the "Lava Rock Foundation" ones. They tried to use lava rock in place of concrete & bricks that where getting hard to find due to shortages.
I live in one. It's small only 4 rooms. The bathroom was added on. It originally had an outhouse. My wife and I are the second couple to live here. Out in the country, very peaceful. House was built strong.
I was going to say the same thing. These houses a quiet beautiful, I love the craftsman style homes. I wonder who the designers and/or architect was of these Sears & Roebuck Kit Homes?
@@25Soupy I owned a home in Phoenix that was built in 1954 that sat on a 3rd acre lot. I wish I had stayed in instead of selling it. After 10yrs of living in it. I did a lot remodeling to it. It was beautiful.
I started a roofing business back in 89'. I got all my material at Sears. They also had siding for the houses too. A big wind storm with hail had come through my area and a lot of people claimed the damage through their insurance. I had a good gig going for a couple years but it was dirty laborious work and I threw in the towel.
If Sears went back into selling home kits again, they would be certainly be successful again!
I think they would do especially well with tiny home kits. The tiny home community seems to be very into doing it themselves.
Yes, but these were very good quality materials, using old growth forest hardwood, I doubt it would be the same quality as well as design as these were very detailed. Nowadays you can get a modular home.
Would have saved them from shutting down so many stores.
Ummm- Sears has gone out of business….
Because you would own your own home. I wish they still did this.
The house I was born in, still stands today. My mom and dad built it from a kit from sears.
There's a quite few Sears "kit" houses around Pittsburgh, Along with "Aladdin" and "Gordon Van Tine" (and other companies') kit houses. The suburbs of Pittsburgh were BOOMING at the EXACT era that "kit" houses were a "thing". Without finding the markings on the lumber, It's damned hard to tell a "pre-cut" kit house from a "regular" one. Modern folk tend to think that kit-houses are "pre-fab", But NO, they are built in the exact manner as any "regular" house, it was just that the material was pre cut to specification, making building much faster! - and led many homeowners to build for themselves! The finished building is the same as any other "regular" built house! Many post World War 1 AND World War 2 houses were built this way. The efficiency of construction led to Americans to live in "tract housing" and not "tower blocks" (like Europe). It was a good method!
@@jamesslick4790 I just somehow came to this video remembering the old day as the homes look familiar! Im from Pgh. as well. Born in the North Side, family moved to Mt Nebo when I was 3, The "Argyle " home here in the video reminds me of my old neighbors house..I miss these old times, and would go back in a heart beat compared to today.
@@terrythomas790 Your old neighbor's house very likely WAS a Sears Argyle! I currently live on the North Side, ("Mexican War Streets") of course my house is not a Sears house as it was built before there even WAS a Sears, Roebuck and Company. 🤔☺️ Nice to hear from someone else from the 'Burgh. An at!☺️
I was a realtor for 20 years in Cincinnati, Ohio. Sears homes were very popular here. Thousands of them still exist in some of the older neighborhoods. I recognized every single model you showcased. I think kit Holmes would be at least a partial solution to the housing crisis today.
It's not really a housing crisis. It's a land crisis. All the buildable land has been bought already, interest rates limit who can afford to buy and zoning restrictions keeps land use density low or prohibits building residential dwellings altogether. Large private equity and real estate trusts have bought up all remaining housing in order to maximize profits and control markets.
Great idea. I’m 70. I would love to have the opportunity to live in one during my last years. I’ve moved to a small community that has these all around but they are in rundown condition and people still live in them. The community doesn’t have the money to rehab these beauties for them and even if they did, there is a major shortage of construction minded people living here and the schools don’t teach any of the trades anymore. When we moved here it was to down size, be near family. Family got us into the home we bought but due to health concerns, aren’t able to finish the job. There were no other homes on the market so we ended up buying a home twice the size we need, can keep clean and are swiftly using up our retirement do to the housing shortage here. It’s very nice home just too big. A nice cottage home would be preferred. Sears always built the best, they were the benchmark for style and price in that era and I say bring them back. I support the young man who is going to build one and showing his build on line for us to view.
I can't wait for my sister to see this. She and her husband bought a 2 story Cape Cod Sears home 20 years ago and did a huge restoration, discovered glowing wood floors, giant pocket doors even the original 1930s wallpaper buried under years of paints, carpets, etc. They had to put on a new roof and replace the plumbing in the upstairs bath, but much of the house is original.
Kudos to your sister and her hubster unit for that restoration. A truly worthy endeavor.
How much is it worth today?
@@bodybuilderslave7125 I'm sure it's worth more than what my sister & her hubby paid for it 20 years ago, but I'm guessing 80K today. She lives in a VERY rural location.
My Sears Catalogue Home is named The Windsor. Read my comment above.
@@jasondaniel918 I applaud your sister and husband for doing a renovation and actually keeps a good chunk of the original character
More often than that when people renovate these old hoes they completely destroyed the character in them
"...delivered by train.." Imagine explaining that to a kid today. Another sad loss, the rails to towns.
Just think trains haul lots of building supplies today.
I loved riding on the train! I'm originally from Texas and my family moved to Los Angeles in early 50s when I was 6. My mom, little sister and I arrived by train and I still remember the sound of the wheels on the tracks. Watching the land change and the small towns we passed. The most exciting thing was when we were almost at the train station, I saw the Los Angeles city hall. It's the one that is in start of The Adventures of Superman tv series! I kept looking at it in case I might just get to see Superman leap higher than the tallest building! It was certainly something to write about to the cousins in Texas!
Last time I was on a train was in Williams, Arizona on an old coal train up to the Grand Canyon in 1993. Beautiful!
Rail runs right through my town to this day. What kills is we got rid of a lot of our rail. With the speed of passenger trains today we should be able to travel the country for pennies on the dollar
If you go to the town of Rockford, Illinois, there is an old neighborhood called 'Rolling Green'. In that 1930s-1940s neighborhood, you will find hundreds of these Sears & Roebuck Kit Homes. I even met my first love in that neighborhood! Thank you, Sears Roebucks & Co!
Wow! That's extraordinary. My family lived in Rockford for a few years and I had relatives who lived there many years. I need to make a trip back there and check that out some time.
That's so cool!
@Perry Golston Who are you speaking to? If you are speaking to me, I'm a Black Italian, not a 'White' person.
I live in Loves Park Il and these homes are all over the Rockford, LP, Belvidere area. I've worked on a few and almost bought one.
@Perry Golston I wondered when a piece of racist, fascist, SJW garbage would infect this thread. Here you are.
Go play in traffic.
The Sears homes are much more classic and beautiful than most homes that are built today.
I'm glad you know!
My maternal great grandfather would work on these kit homes. He was a master carpenter. He'd travel around in a horse drawn wagon.
Love the music and narration. It’s like Linus grew up and started his own RUclips channel.
Linus!? Do you mean Schroeder, the one that played the piano?
We still have the Magnolia standing on our farm ground. And it was moved 3 miles across the bridge onto the hill. Back in 1925. It still retains its beauty and charm. It's has two small addition 1 in 1939 another 1958. We have all the blueprints the bill. The shipping dates. the neat part is it was ordered in the morning and arrived from Chicago on the afternoon train
Today's carrier services don't always accomplish that! That was impressive efficiency in 1925!
thats better then amazon today !!!
@@halbud Not surprised! They're a woke company cause Bezos is a good political crony, and a modern day sweatshop who obviously ran off their good drivers!
I'm curious how it was ordered. Most of these were by mail order, did they have an account already set up with Sears and order it by phone or telegram?
@@JeffDeWitt according to the paperwork we have the letter was dropped in the post office in the morning and made the morning train and it was returned by the afternoon train the same day. The post office still sit two blocks from the railroad track there are pictures of the hook that they put the mail bag on for the train to pick up so the train didn't have to slow down. The afternoon train about 4 p.m. what come in from Chicago roughly a hundred fifty miles away from us and it would bring supplies and drop things off at the spur which oddly enough still Services the grain elevator just as it did back then just new grain elevator that's the closest I think I can come from the research I have
Our home is a Sears kit home that was built by my grandparents in the 1930's. Our home is well built and we still love our home to any new build home. Thanks for sharing 😍
my home is a sears home built in 1921
In 1908 Sears offered an entire school through the homes catalog. For $10,000 a school district could buy the kit for an two-story brick school with six classrooms and even a small auditorium. It disappeared from the catalog after 1908 and no one seems to know if Sears actually sold any.
That is so interesting. I’d love to actually see one.
Well, the government NEVER makes sensible purchases. It's much more likely the schools built at the time cost twice as much for half the quality.
Sears was the Amazon of its day.
@@susanfudge1737 people can independently build a school in their community, and govt get subsidized pricing on cost of build so...why would they buy a sears one?
@@susanfudge1737 Okay Debbie Downer. 😐
The large Magnolia home is still my absolute favorite. With the sun room on one end with a library and a covered parking spot that leads into the kitchen, with a terrace on top. Oh my heart! ❤
Now this would be a neat idea for a construction video - Find some Sears Blueprints and build one of the Homes today.
Just modernize the plumbing and electric and you'd have a very nice home.
What's sad is to build it today with all the woodwork and detail, the average american family would not be able to afford it.....I still love this era of homes
I saw one from 1916, that I would absolutely love. It was two stories, and had three bedrooms. The only thing that I would want to change is to have a half bath on the first floor.
@@frankb3347 Also include insulation.
i work at a home depot, a customer came in with the original blueprints and parts list, what cost 2400 dollars back then would cost. 69,000 in 2019 and allot more now. but. hey hone depot will finance it.
they are old school houses, narrow doors and steep stairs. the exterior is almost 100 percent cedar
The home Mom and her husband own is a Sears home and it is doing just fine. The home next door is the same thing. It was built in the '20s.
@@josephking9337 truly made zero sense.
@Perry Golston Huh? I see many of these in old neighborhoods in California.
The bungalow/craftsman homes built from the first part of the 20th century through the 1920s are often of wonderful craftmanship. I live in 1913 and love it.
@Perry acting troll: What are you on about? Many of these homes were built by the people who bought them--one of the selling points was that all one needed was the ability to use basic tools and to read and understand instructions.
@@user-mv9tt4st9k my papaw built one of these houses many, many, many years ago. On the cheapest plot of land in the crappiest neighborhood in Ohio, right next to train tracks. So close the trains would shake the house. It was the only way my Mamaw and Papaw could’ve afforded a house.
@@user-mv9tt4st9k With the home my mom owns, they have the blueprints to the home and the person who built this home and one next door were brother and both floor plans are the same. We share the driveway with the neighbors because of that. Glad the neighbors are nice.
My grandfather built one of these when he got back from World War I. It’s still standing today!
Thank you for the education on this. I wish my dad was alive to see your presentation, it would bring a smile to his face.☺️
When my grandpa was in British army,he was station in Washington DC.He got those catalogue and built one of these model back home.We still have this first model home stay strong back home on hill
Grew up in a Sears home my great grandpa built in the 20s, it's still standing and in great shape
I'll take a Magnolia please. Designed back when some pride went into the design. Now we all get the latest carbon copy stucco box out at Pressboard Acres.
@@sparkyvee "Pressboard Acres" hahaha!
And costs 300,000.00 !
Or a sawdust and cardboard colonial clone in waferboard acres
The new home designs these days are 🤢🤮 Most of the really good designed modern homes are so expensive. I love these designs. Homes built in this era were built well.
Your Duesenberg will look good parked in front Edit ... Or under the car port
My daughter owns a 106 year old house that I know had to be a Sears Catalog home. Built in 1915 for a Conductor of the Santa Fe Railroad. Even the horse stable in the back yard was turned into a garage, then turned into a Apt she rents out. I saw a picture of a horse in the stable a neighbor had. My daughter is in her 30's and loves the house, so I hope she keeps it for years to come. I help her with projects around the place and spend her money. We are keeping the lath and plaster walls, and the attic is insulated. It was never insulated before my daughter bought it 11 years ago! It's a well built house!! They just don't build them like they use to, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Aw man, I’ve flipped through a couple of these from like 1910. Very cool stuff.
I have an old catalog of the homes they sold back then that is almost too fragile to open but they also sold kits to build your own barns and other outbuildings.
My brother's neighborhood in upstate NY has a number of these homes. He lives in one with the garage made out of the packing materials the house parts came in.
My paternal grandparents home in Iowa is a Sears kit (No. 115) they purchased and built themselves in 1918. My father is the last of his siblings alive, and we did a lot of restoration when my grandmother passed away at 100 years old. Sears also offered extension packages for the houses, for when you built a model and needed to make it bigger. Ours has two different extensions, one before my father was born that extended the house into the side porch space, and a second he helped with during high school which added a good 12 feet of depth to the back of the house- both stories- and introduced indoor plumbing. We still own the property and a 2nd or 3rd cousin rents it from us. It's hard to believe that house is now 103 years old.
I can't imagine having everything to build a house all delivered at once. Talk about an overwhelming project if you didn't have builders in your family, and thought you could build it on your own.
Yep a project. But precut and labeled
They had such character when making things back then. Loved these designs!
Simply amazing. My grandfather told me of a friend of his that had bought a Sears Kit Home in the 20s back in Minnesota, I thought that he was pulling my leg. Year's later, I learned that it was true..Nice and well-researched video guys, I never miss an episode.
@Perry Golston Wow, looks as the musings of our reflections from the past has “woken” a troll. Fair question, he never mentioned “black” people...That satisfy your “cancel culture, woke” curiosity? Now crawl back to whatever slime pit you slithered from and go away, Cancel Culture days are numbered.
My dad spent his childhood in a a Sears kit cottage his father built in the early 1930's in Hudson, OH. It was amazing to see my dad's toddler hand prints in the sidewalk in front of the house. I think Sears kit houses were such a cool concept: the original modular house, and available in so many styles and sizes. Sev. years ago I was scrolling through many of the house plans on a website, and I realized that many of them didn't include a bathroom (!). I'm guessing those examples were pre-WWl, when indoor plumbing perhaps wasn't widespread yet.
I would love to live in one of those homes
Find any neighborhood in America and you can. They’re a little more expensive though.
I wonder if you could get the blueprints for free. Surely the copyright has expired by now.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term "some assembly required" though.
The very last home shown here was the model my parents bought and built in 1952 in the Buffalo area. Still standing today, and renovated over the years to include an attached garage. Such a beautiful home!
I enjoyed this video and the pleasant low key background music was a good choice.
Back when houses had charm and beautiful detail. 😍
The concept of house kits continued beyond the Sears era. My grandfather bought a kit in 1969 and built a little house out in the country north of Dixon, IL (Woosung). He was a carpenter by trade, so he was handy and capable. I remember going to visit him when we lived in Rockford to see the progress. I would love to find some of these homes and just look around them. The designs are quite nice and definitely of their time.
We live in a kit home. It is approximately 1100 sq feet, wood beam ceilings, cinderblock, old schooly windows. Love it! It was built in 1950. Wickenburg Az.
I have been in a couple of these homes and they were very nice!!!
Trouble today is every city and every state has it's own codes and permits. The cost would still be expensive. It's a great idea to be able to order one from a book. Some I'm sure are still standing and are worth millions now !
Actually the trend these days, driven by insurance companies, is to "adopt by reference" the international standard codes. I will grant you there are a lot more codes nowadays pushing up costs.
@CharlesNheather
I like what you did there ...lol
The price of lumber and materials is the real problem.
It was simply, beautiful, warm...
It is a home.
My grandparents lived in a Sears house. Grandpa and my Dad thought it was the easiest to fix and repair. Years later when I bought my first house, it was built in the 1880's, I wished it was a Sears home because of the maintenance would have been easier. Cheers.
Honestly, your channel is just the best thing since sliced bread! The videos are so enjoyable and fun-please keep them coming!😄
Isn't it? He brings up things I haven't thought of in years.
What was the best thing before sliced bread? I've always wondered.
My mom and stepdad live in one that has had a later addition. It is a very strong, well-built home. I am sure that regular maintenance has played a huge role; but it is very nice.
I like the design and layout of these homes and love to look at the floor plans. Really cool!
This was cool! Somebody should do this again. Maybe this could be a revival for Sears to reboot its kit homes.
Excellent idea, you should contact them! (I'm quite serious too!)
Home kits still exist
@@captainamericaamerica8090 Sears still sells stuff online
Elon Musk is already creating this. Houses for $50k
Awesome !!!
I never knew that so many styles were offered !!!
There are several in the Florence , Darlington , Manning and Sumter South Carolina areas !!!!
My daughter owned a Sears kit home we believe was built maybe around 1910. 3 story brick with brick basement in Huntington WV. Walls were 2 ft thick, hardwood floors and plaster walls. This house has not settled even a hair and looks like it did 100 plus years ago. My parents home I grew up in was built in 1923 and is a Sears home, in Louisville KY. Same type brick, finish trim, front and back doors and hardwood floors as my daughter's home. It's amazing Sears put out such a quality product in its day
The first home I purchased was a Sears home. At closing I received the original sales flyer from Sears. (I still have the flyer today) original cost $1,250. I lived in it for 9 years. I purchased it in 1993 for $68K.
So called Value now $450K.
I loved that house and too this day I wish I had of kept that house. I still drive by it every now and then.
I lived in one of these homes in Arlington, VA. Very quaint! I loved it.
These homes look good to me... they resonate within.
I can look out my lake home window and 50 yards east is a Sears cabin. It’s absolutely lovely, both inside and out.
have worked on a few of them, once I found an attic space that had been closed off for years, found old books, and the paperwork for the house and blueprint and catalog that had all the materials listed, and their payment book were the man only paid 7.00 a month to pay for the house, the house was being re-hab to be sold and I found the original owners and gave all the stuff to them to add to their families history great homes god bless
After WWII, the City of Fort Worth, Texas gave land to returning soldiers (Veterans) upon which they could build a home. My Grandmother and Grandfather took advantage of this, and bought a sears kit home (which is still there today). They have long since passed away, but I still have the ledger my grandmother kept for every payment she made to Sears on her home.
That's really cool. Would be a nice heirloom
I've lived in Tarrant and Denton counties for the last 20 yrs, and I love the old neighborhoods in Ft. Worth and Denton. What neighborhood is yr. grandparents' house in?
@@annedwyer797 Hi Anne, I believe it was called the Brentmoor neighborhood, right off I-35. They lived on Butler street.
Our first house was a Sears house back in 1986. Bought it from original owners. It had all the original wallpaper, wool carpets, glass doorknobs, pushbutton light switches, leaded glass windows flanking the fireplace and my personal favorite the little butlers pantry with glass fronted China cabinet and swinging door to the dining room. I wanted the house because of that room. We lived there for 12 years. I miss it to this day. All the house inspectors who we had to have inspect it when we were selling it said it was a wonderfully solidly built house.
I hope the plumbing and wiring had been updated since the house was built.
I would fully buy one of these home today! They are gorgeous!
We live in a Sears Roebuck House. Two of the original family's children still live in the neighborhood and one has photos of the house kit arriving by train down about a quarter of a mile from here, and then being loaded onto a wagon and pulled by horses to the building site. I've got a book of Sears Roebuck houses but ours is not in it. It was built in 1927 and was plumbed and wired from the get-go, but electricity wasn't available here until the late 40s and the house was finally furnished with a full bath in 1959. There was a two seater outhouse (still usable) when we bought the place in 1982, although we did tear it down about 20 years ago. The garage, which was original, I believe, was torn down about 15 years ago. We have put on a metal roof and a wrap around porch but the inside has been returned to its orignal 3 bedroom layout, as the original owners/builders, had removed a wall to have a bigger livingroom. It would be fun to know the "real" original information about the house, though.
Knew Sears sold house kits but never gave much thought to looking for them today. I will keep my eyes open now.
I live in one. Every house on my street is a Sears catalog house. A developer in the early 1930's bought all the land on my street and ordered 6 of these homes in 2 different styles. He hired a local carpenter to assemble them over an 18 month period. 4 of them are still here and in good repair. The other 2 were torn down in the 1980's due to falling into disrepair.
Love their house plans! The ideas of receiving all of the supplies, and having all of the wood cut.
I love reading the comments on your videos: the personal memories, additional information, etc. That's why I don't like being the first to watch your videos but would rather wait. As a child I think I lived in a few Sears houses. They were solid.
My Aunt & Uncle have one of these KIT HOMES...it was built in 1950...here in Tucson, Az. It's a Three bedroom Two bath formal dining room living room galley kitchen and a double garage.. they added a big Arizona Room in the back area in 1965..
I lived in a Sears home for 7 years; it arrived by train and was built by my landlord in the early 50s. It was a duplex I turned into a one plex. It was well constructed, and I was happy to live there. Someone bought the house after the landlord died and turned it into a parking lot, makes me sad to see it gone. 😢
Thank you for showing what some of them look like today.
I know of several of these in the area I grew up in.. it helped the railroad bought a bunch of Sears kit homes and had em built in Greybull Wyoming for the railroad foremen and their families
I live in a Sears & Roebuck Catalogue Home called The Windsor built in 1924 by my Italian grandfather. The home has maintained its original architectural integrity. The home was named after The Duke of Windsor who eventually abdicated the throne of England for the woman he loved. According to the catalogue the purchase price was $1,580.
The Magnolia home majestically sits on our city’s main thorough fare.
Thank you for this great video. I have always been a fan of historic homes, so a video like this is a treat. I wish I could buy one of those kits today!
Beautiful homes I want America back again
I live in a sears kit! It's awesome! so well built! Everything delivered by train in 1940... electric, plumbing, windows, all of it.
My first home was a Whitehall model in Roxbury NJ. The quality of the lumber was magnificent, many of the wall studs had 0-2 knots and were solid 65 years after they were put up. One clue is that the roof rafters are all numbered in pencil, if you have access to the attic.
My grandparents had a Sears house. My grandfather built it and it was very well constructed.
I wonder if any of those plans and blueprints are still available. The styles alone would be worth building today.
YES! I've googled them.
I lived in one in Eugene Oregon.
Best put together and coolest place I have ever lived.
The owners over the years kept original photos of the home and land around it. So interesting
In the town where i live (mount joy PA) I personally know of at least 3 of the sears houses but they are all the same model: modern home No.52. I find this concept very interesting, that I used it for a school project a while ago.
I like these kinds of homes. They seem so cozy and homey. `Affordable, but attractive and well-built.´
I lived in "The Argyle" model home in Amarillo, Texas. It was bought and built by a railroad engineer in 1924 approximately 3/4 mile from the train depot. It was a well-built and comfortable house. I was a young man and lived in it from 1974 to 1978 as a renter. It is still serving it's purpose as a home for a family.
I just looked at the original catalog info "The Argyle". It looks like a beautiful little Craftsman bungalow.
There are literal hundreds of these homes in small town where I live. They’ve well kept, too! ☺️
My great grandparents bought and built one of these homes on their farm. It was a teeny tiny one bedroom bungalow. I believe it is still standing today!
I grew up in a Sears Kit home in way-upstate New York it was either the Haven or Cornell model...my parents added an addition and made a new kitchen and and added two more bedrooms. What was the kitchen was turned into a mud room/laundry/half bath. I was too young to remember the old kitchen but the living room had beautiful built in shelving and intricate crown molding on the windowsills and the opening to the dining room. It's still standing but the porch needs some repairs.
My sister's family lives in a Sears Kit home. The trim mouldings are beautiful.
My home isn’t a Sears home, though I’d love love love to have one! My home is a 1965 brick ranch that my great aunt and uncle lived in until their deaths, the house my great aunt originally lived in was torn down for a highway in the 60’s so they bought this home. My great aunt was effectively my grandmother since she raised my dad after his mother’s passing. I love my home, it’s filled w holiday memories and memories of my great aunt sewing dresses for me and sometimes I can still smell her in the closet’s and such. There’s not a stitch of new furniture in this house and when my dad comes over he often says it’s like he’s gone back in time and that my great aunt and great grandmother are still here. All older homes should be loved for who they are and appreciated💗
When we looked for our home, I specifically looked for an old sears home. The quality is top notch. Our last home was built in the 1870s. So we are on the middle ground between primitive and modern.
I have one built in 28,,,,love love love it
I wonder if I might have lived in one of the bungalows. We moved around a lot and almost always rented; Dad had been a carpenter when he was younger and always made improvements wherever we lived. I remember him telling me how lath and plaster walls were built.
Would love to live in one of these lovely homes!
And 100 years later, those same houses are worth 100 times as much! If ONLY we could buy a 4-bedroom house for under 5 grand today!!
Sears Christmas Catalog..
👍👍👍
RIP Sears
My family ordered and built one of these houses in 1919 probably one of the smallest ones they offered it's been remodeled and built on to several times but is still in the family
Most of the pieces of the Sears home kits were made in a plant three miles north of Cairo IL, at the southern tip of the state at confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. The plant had two different rail yards and a small port on the Ohio River where much of the materials were shipped in. In the nicer part of Cairo today there are many Sears houses as employees got employee discounts buying them. Interstate 57 currently runs through the old plant location. Only reminder of plant are two dead end roads. Sears Rd from the east and Roebuck Rd from the west.
I have a 1918 Sears Kit home its a chore keeping up with it but its in good shape!
That's a lovely piece of history. Most of the houses realy look tasteful. I don't think we had anything like it here in the Netherlands. Atlhough I must say that the slightly more expensive homes build during the exact same time here are beautiful as well. Especially some of the art deco stuff.
Looking at these pictures, I think a home I owned in Nebraska, built in 1924, may be one of these Sears homes. It was beautifully built, and one of the most solid and well-insulated homes I've ever owned. It is still in great shape and a new family lives there now, in a 97-year-old kit house!
Lots in Old Town Fort Collins, CO, and they’re restored and so lovely.
My great-grandfather built one of these homes on his farm back in the 20's. My grandad was born there, my dad grew up there, and I played there in the summer. Now it's in a state of decay, but oh well.
Is it still occupied?
Built my wood barn/shed. Used twice as many nails as called for. All treated lumber. Itll last 300 yrs.
Yep , Mom and Dad had one built in 1950 . I was born and raised there . Cost $ 3050 , the extra $ 50 was for hard wood floors my Mom wanted . Still stands today with a sister living in it .
My town has a lot of Sears kit houses as the railroad comes right through the center of town and still has two sidings for trains to park on for loading the grains raised in this area. They were quality homes and had nice character.
You are doing a great job with your channel. Thank You!
In my area there was a boom in this time period with many towns being established as these where being offered. So you find a lot of these in various states all over SE Idaho. It was easy and quick, so much so that lumber yards here couldn't keep up with traditional demands to standard build and this filled that void. So yeah.... you drive through "old town" Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, etc etc etc you will find nearly every model in that catalog. And they are well built for the most part. Only thing you have to watch out for is the "Lava Rock Foundation" ones. They tried to use lava rock in place of concrete & bricks that where getting hard to find due to shortages.
I live in one. It's small only 4 rooms. The bathroom was added on. It originally had an outhouse. My wife and I are the second couple to live here. Out in the country, very peaceful. House was built strong.
This was really interesting - thank you! Wish kit homes were prevalent again as housing is so damn expensive now, especially here in the UK
Most of USA also.
In the land of the free it is now illegal to build a shed in your backyard without paying the government a lot of money.
Older homes have more character than today's thrown together homes.
I was going to say the same thing. These houses a quiet beautiful, I love the craftsman style homes. I wonder who the designers and/or architect was of these Sears & Roebuck Kit Homes?
@@25Soupy Sears is going bankrupt now. They need to pull these plans out and re-invent their company to provide house kits!
@@25Soupy I owned a home in Phoenix that was built in 1954 that sat on a 3rd acre lot. I wish I had stayed in instead of selling it. After 10yrs of living in it.
I did a lot remodeling to it. It was beautiful.
Before WW2 they also built things to last rather then embracing the disposable culture we use today.
@@frankb3347 You're absolutely right
I started a roofing business back in 89'. I got all my material at Sears. They also had siding for the houses too. A big wind storm with hail had come through my area and a lot of people claimed the damage through their insurance. I had a good gig going for a couple years but it was dirty laborious work and I threw in the towel.
I loved seeing these in the Chicago neighborhoods. Great looking houses.