Sears sold kit homes, and they also sold kit garages. In fact, in the late 1910s, they offered a specialty catalog of nothing but their pre-cut kit garages.
Identifying a “Sears kit garage” is far more difficult than identifying kit homes, because they’re such simple structures.
Two of the “Sears garages” shown below are probably custom-built structures, designed (and built) after the house, and intended to mirror the design elements of the existing home.
Enjoy the photos below.
To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.
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The Sears Osborn was a unique home with its "oriental peak" on the roofline.
And God bless these dear owners who had this garage custom-built to match their beautiful Osborn. Sears didn't offer this design in their catalogs, but it sure is a nice match to the original Sears House!
This could be an original Sears garage. It sits on the same lot as a Sears Fullerton in Olmstead, Illinois and has several distinctive features that suggest it certainly could be from Sears.
Is this a Sears garage? I'd guess that it may be a "super-sized" Sears garage. It shares living space with a Sears Newbury in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. This house is sized to accommodate a post-WW2 sedan. Since Sears stopped selling kit houses (and garages) in 1939, it's more likely to have been added after the fact. Nonetheless, it was beautifully done and it's precise age stumped the expert! (This photograph is courtesy of Sandra Spann and can not be used or reproduced without written permission. Copyright 2011, Sandra Spann.)
In the back pages of the 1921 Sears Modern Homes catalog, you'll find a page devoted to their garages.
Notice that the lower left garage is designed to match the Sears Alhambra.
Close-up of the Alhambra garage.
- The appearance of their kit garages had changed quite a bit by the 1938 Sears Modern Homes catalog.
A second page from the 1938 catalog.
And from the 1940 catalog.
This 1919 specialty catalog was devoted to the kit garages sold by Sears. The one featured here is actually a prefab garage, which was shipped in sections, and could be assembled in under six hours (according to Sears).
For reasons I don't understand, these were called "Star Garages."
Close-up of one of the models. Notice the five-piece eave brackets which match the Olmstead garage (above).
If you preferred "ugly and cheap," they could help with that, too.
Less cheap, but still. Ick. I love how these graphics are flashing a little bit of fender. Kinda sexy, isn't it?
A pedestrian garage with an ever more pedestrian name.
"The Manor" even sounds expensive (because it is).
This is a "simplex" garage, which means it is prefab (shipped in sections, and bolts together pretty darn fast). "Pre-cut" means the house is shipped with pre-cut framing members. A "pre-cut" house (or garage) is similar to a stick-built structure, but the framing members are already cut to the right lengths, so the time-consuming chore of measuring and sawing is already taken care of.
Another "Simplex" prefab garage. Look at the size!!! 9x12.
To learn more about Sears barns, click here.
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I sure wish Sears still made these kits—we line in a 1927 garage-less bungalow and would love a kit to build a cute garage like these!
I have a Sears kit 2-car garage with the original metal plaque.
I’ve also found multiple people places where the garage siding is stenciled with the catalog number. If you’re interested, I’d be glad to share pictures.