About an hour northeast of Cincinnati is a wee tiny town named Enon, Ohio. And in that teeny tiny town is an unusual Sears House, known as Modern Home #112. The distinctive houses (such as #112) are easier to identify because they have some unique details that’ll catch your eye! And with this home’s two-story polygon bay – extending to the third floor – it should be very easy to identify!
Prior to 1918, Sears Homes had numbers, not names. This house was removed from the catalogs sometime prior to 1918. It never had any name, other than Modern Home #112. That distinctive bay on the front does not extend to the first floor.
Number 112 in Enon, Ohio was photographed from a different angle (than shown in the image above), but there's little doubt that this is the real deal. (Photo is copyright 2012 Cindy Goebel Catanzaro and can not be used or reproduced without written permission.)
It'd be interesting to know if the owners of this house realize they have a real treasure on their hands. (Photo is copyright 2012 Cindy Goebel Catanzaro and can not be used or reproduced without written permission.)
An interesting aside: My husband’s childhood friend – Sam Swauger – lived in Enon for a time. Anyone known Sam? 🙂
The first floor of the house shows a space for an optional bathroom on the first floor.
And there is no space on the second floor for a bathroom. Also, notice that the second floor is much smaller than the first. There is no living space over the kitchen area on the back of the house. This was common in the early 1900s, as it was thought that any area over the kitchen would be too hot and too smelly and unsuitable for living space.
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Sears Modern Home #112 can be found in the 1910 Sears Modern Homes catalog (shown here). This is a very rare catalog, and probably one of the more valuable catalogs.
To learn more about identifying kit homes, click here.
To read about Addie Hoyt, click here.
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That’s a nice floor plan – I’d like a house like that. And that’s interesting about the kitchen. I always wondered why there was nothing over my kitchen. It’s the only part of my house that’s one story.
There is a very early #112 at 118 Hudson Ave Cohoes NY. It has a side addition and looks to be a “duplex” now. I believe it dates to late 1908. I found the testimony with two other houses in a 1909 issue of American Carpenter and Builder magazine. The house in Cohoes was built more like the catalog image. It has been “modified” since first built but you can see it more resembles the catalog image.