Sterling was one of the six national companies selling kit homes through a mail-order catalog. Like Aladdin, Sterling Homes was based in Bay City, Michigan. While Sterling was successful in selling their kit homes nationwide, they were a much smaller company than Aladdin or Sears. To learn more about Sterling, click here.
Pictured below is the catalog page for the Sterling Homes “Browning-B.” The “B” is usually a reference to a different floorplan for the same house design. (Despite looking through my reference materials, I never did find a “Browning-A.)
Compare the catalog page with the extant homes below. The roof on the back of the house doesn’t drop down near as far as the front. And look at the pair of gabled dormers, connected by the small shed dormer. Most interesting is the bay window on the front of the house, next to the front door.
From the Sterling Homes catalog.
There are several of these models in Hopewell's downtown area, interspersed with Aladdin kit homes. Is this the Sterling "Browning B"? It sure is a perfect match. The only flaw is the size of the eaves on the dormer window. Everything else is perfect, and that's remarkable, because this is a very unique house.
Another Sterling Browning-B in Hopewell? Appears to be!
*
A close-up of the house as it appeared in the catalog.
Side-by-side comparison of the two houses.
Another Sterling Browning "B" in Hampton, Virginia? It certainly looks very close, and yet it appears to be a little bigger (deeper) than the other Sterling Homes (above). The rest of the details (see below) are a very, very good match.
The home's left side is a perfect match to the catalog page.
Pretty unique house!
Floorplan shows that over sized bay window on the first floor, which is an unusual feature for a house of this size. Both the house in Hopewell and Hampton also have this. The second floor sure has a lot of doors!
Very unusual arrangement around the dormer windows, too. Also a perfect match to the original catalog image.
Detail around those funky dormers (catalog).
Even the rafter tails are a spot-on match to the Sterling catalog.
Thanks to Pat Spriggs for driving me all over Hampton!
And thanks to Mark and Lisa Hardin for finding the Hopewell Brownings!
To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
* * *
0 Comments