The Magnolia was Sears biggest and best kit home, but the Ivanhoe was a close second. In my travels, I’ve only seen a handful.
One of them was in Lewisburg, WV and the other was in Elmhurst, Illinois (see pictures of these homes below). I found a third in Northern Illinois but neglected to note the city. Carol Parish (Monmouth, IL) sent in a picture of an especially beautiful (and original) Ivanhoe in her city.
According to the testimonials found in the old Sears Modern Homes’ catalogs (and referenced in Rebecca Hunter’s book), there’s a Sears Ivanhoe in West Point, Virginia, but it faces the waterfront and despite letters written to the owners, I’ve not been able to get a photograph.
Recently I was scanning some old paperwork and stumbled across the Sears Ivanhoe (LaGrange, IL) featured in a Sears roofing brochure. I’d love to get a current photo of this BRICK Ivanhoe! š
This Ivanhoe is located in LaGrange, IL. I wonder if it's still standing!
Close-up of the letter written someone whose signature is illegible in a city whose name is misspelled. It's LaGrange, not LaGrauge.
Below are the Ivanhoes in Lewiston, West Virginia, Elmhurst, Illinois, and an unknown city in northern Illinois.
First, the original catalog image.
Sears Ivanhoe from the 1920 Modern Homes catalog
Ivanhoe floorplan, second floor.
Ivanhoe floorplan, first floor.
Ivanhoe in Elmhurst, IL
And this beautiful Ivanhoe is in Monmouth, IL. Thanks to Carol Parish for snapping the photo and sending it along!!
Ivanhoe in Lewisburg, WV
This Ivanhoe is in Northern Illinois - somewhere (2002).
If you know of the location of an Ivanhoe, please leave a comment below. And if you own an Ivanhoe and would like to send me a picture, please do! Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you!
If you’ d like to read more about Sears Homes, click here.
To buy Rose’s book, click here.
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Hey Rose-
I might be nuts but I could almost swear that Dale found one in Detroit years ago – I think he talked about it on the arts-crafts website.
I’ve subscribed to your blog for the Addie Hoyt Fargo story, and haven’t any previous interest in Sears Homes. (I wish Addie’s story was a separate webpage or at least had it’s own tab. The story is very hard to learn about in the current format for someone like myself who stumbles upon the story, and tries to learn about it all at once.)
Anyway, I love “finding” things, which I usually apply to genealogy, but I was pretty sure I could locate your “La Grange, IL” Ivanhoe. As someone who has read a fair bit of vintage handwriting, the signature on the letter about the house is quite readable. The gentleman’s name is “Oscar C Heppes.” Using my ancestry.com subscription, I located Oscar’s draft record, which states his address as 313 8th Ave, La Grange, IL.
I searched for the address online in Google Maps, then used the “street view” to see the house. If you’ve never used it, Google has sent a car with a camera mounted on top all around the country and along many city streets. There is a “little man” on Google Map pages above the zoom slider. If you click-and-drag this man over the map, the streets you can view are outlined in blue. Drop the green dot below the man where you want to view, then drag the “rotate” button on the circle at the upper left of the map to turn the view.
I have not found a way to directly print or email the image from street (or satellite) view. All attempts result in the “road map” form. I HAVE been able to use the “PrtSc” key on my computer, then use the paste function in an image program.
If you want the image I made of the house, let me know and I will email it.
In regards to the West Point house, you might be able to use the helicopter-like “Google Earth” function, to get a view of the house. What is the address of it?
@Molly Nightingale
Oh Molly, I am so impressed! Yes, that’s the correct address! Thanks so much for taking the time to figure that out!