In Fall 2010, my hubby and I were driving home from Elkins, WV and took a detour through Harrisonburg. In less than 30 minutes, I found a plethora of kit homes in this beautiful little mountain town. To learn more about Sears Modern Homes, click here.
In brief, Sears Homes were sold as pre-cut kit homes from the Sears catalog. These 12,000-piece kits came with a 75-page instruction book and a promise that a “man of average abilities” could have one assembled and ready for occupancy in 90 days! When Sears closed their “Modern Homes” department in 1940, all sales records were destroyed, so the only way to find these homes in one by one.
To admire the beautiful pictures, scroll on down! 🙂
To read about another amazing collection (in Rocky Mount), click here!
Sears Willard, as seen in this 1928 promotional ad
Sears Willard in Harrisonburg. Note, the dormer has been altered a bit but that's a very common "repair" as this is the site of frequent roof leaks. One distinguishing feature of the Willard are those three windows on the right side (in this photo).
The Sears Westly was a popular little house. Notice how the roof in the rear is truncated. There's a wee tiny window on the back wall.
Hidden behind the shrubs is a darling Carlin!
Notice the roofline in this picture!
Sears Lynnhaven from the 1938 catalog
There ought to be a law against parking cars in front of Sears Lynnhavens!
Sears Lynnhaven just outside of Harrisonburg in Franklin. And what a beauty!
Sears Attleboro, as seen in the 1936 catalog.
Sears Attleboro (also hidden by the landscaping)
Sears Elsmore, from the 1919 catalog
Still hidden by the vegetation, and also obscured by a lot of remodeling, but there's a Sears Elsmore hiding underneath all that vinyl.
In addition to Sears, I also found houses from Aladdin, a company based in Bay City. Aladdin had a large mill in Wilmington, NC and not surprisingly, I've found more Aladdin kit homes in Virginia and North Carolina, than Sears Homes.
Aladdin Plaza - in the flesh! Note the large addition on the porch. Not what one might call a "sensitive" remodeling.
And I found a Gordon Van Tine home in Harrisonburg. This company was based in Davenport, Iowa and was also a large, national kit home company.
Is it a GV #605? Hard to know for sure without getting inside, but it might be. The house above looks wider than the #605.
To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
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