Indefatigable researcher and old house lover Rachel Shoemaker found another Sears House in Tulsa. This is the Sears Americus, and it’s one of my favorite Sears Homes.
For the unenlightened, these houses started life as 12,000-piece kits and were shipped by rail to wanna-be homeowners in all 48 states. Each “kit” came with a 75-page instruction book and a promise that a “man of average abilities” could have one of these homes built in90 days.
More than 70,000 people gave it a try and purchased one of these kit homes. The Americus (one of 370 designs offered in the Sears Roebuck catalog) was one of their most popular designs.
The Americus was a very popular house for Sears.
The Americus in Tulsa is missing its eave brackets, but it's still clearly an Americus. Photo is courtesy of Rachel Shoemaker.
Beautiful house, and it's such a happy house too!
The Americus in Tulsa is a nice match to the catalog image. One of its distinguishing features is that the first floor front wall is flat, and the second floor front wall has that bump out on the right side.
Another distinquishing feature is the edge of the porch roof. It looks like a large, sideways "V" and it extends well beyond the home's primary wall.
Just like this.
And in the mid-1920s, it was priced at $2,146.
Perhaps my favorite Americus of all time is this house in Ohio. It's a perfect match to the catalog page.
It's a beauty!
To learn more about the Sears Homes in Tulsa, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
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