My dear friend Sam Evans was born and raised in Ocean View and he’s told me many delightful stories about his growing-up years. My favorite was his telling about the day he met Ollie Mae. He was 11 years old, and she was 9. Three years later, he proposed to her. Ollie Mae replied, “Sam, I’m only 12!”
Sam told her, “I didn’t want to wait ’til the last minute!”
They were married a few years later, and when Ollie Mae passed on in 2002, they’d been married for more than six decades, and together for seven decades.
In addition to romantic love stories, Ocean View has interesting architectural history, too. It’s got dozens of kit homes.
Below are some of the hidden architectural treasures I’ve found in Ocean View. To learn more about the kit homes here in Norfolk, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
This Arts & Crafts bungalow is the Sears Ashmore and it's one of my favorite houses. It's a real beauty of a house, and I've seen about five in my many travels, so it's pretty rare.
And here's that "Aristrocrat of Bungalows" on a side street just off of Granby in Ocean View.
This is a Sears Alhambra as seen in the 1921 catalog.
And this is a Sears Alhambra, sans Spanish-flavored extras!
The Vallonia was a very popular model. This Craftsman style bungalow had an expandable attic and was perfect for a growing family!
This Vallonia has been converted into a duplex, but it's still in good condition.
Note the detail on the porch columns. About two dozen Sears Homes had this unusual arrangement on the porch columns.
Close-up of the column on the Ocean View house
There are two of the Harris Brothers kit homes in Ocean View. Very distinctive-looking house. Harris Brothers was a small company based in Chicago, IL.
It was known as Harris Brothers Home #1000, and was a popular design for this kit home company, but there are not many Harris Brother homes in Virginia. Notice the curved front porch (now closed in). Even original flower-box brackets are still in place.
This is a kit home from Gordon Van Tine, a competitor of Sears in the kit home business.
Here's a Gordon Van Tine "Roberts" and in perfect condition!
The Westly was another very popular house for Sears.
Like the other Craftsman-style bungalow in Ocean View, this Sears Westly has also been turned into a duplex.
From the 1928 Sears Modern Homes catalog
Sears Barrington in Ocean View!
This was not a kit home, but a house design from a "plan book." Prospective homeowners would browse the pages of a catalog and find a home that they liked, and after sending in their dollars, they'd receive a full set of blueprints and a full inventory of what was needed to build their dream home. Building supplies were purchased locally.
The Carrville (Homebuilder's Catalog)
Sears Brookwood, from the 1933 catalog.
The Brookwood was a smaller version of the Barrington. It was four feet shorter and two feet narrower.
The last remnant of the Evan's Garage (owned by Sam Evan's father).
To learn more about Sears Homes in Norfolk, click here.
To read about Rose the Ham, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
* * *
There’s a Carrville somewhere here in Cincinnati – I remember dissecting that house on my Sears house hunting!!
Rose, your imagination is a delight to all who get to sample it —and I hope it never gets you into trouble with bad boys like some of those at OSHA or the EPA.
Your facts are always accurate and your presentation always includes a few chuckles.
I believe that the Fed. Med. Dept is working to perfect a program similar to the “OLD HOUSE DECIMATION ACT’ for guidance when treating the geriatric generation, formerly referred to as “Dem Old Folks”
Keep up the goodwork—- Sam
Norfolk has a wonderful collection of these outstanding homes.
The floor plans are fabulous, the cross breezes are delightful. Norfolk has so much to offer.