Reading the old Sears Modern Home catalogs is wholly delightful, and there are times that the idioms of the day make it a little bit challenging. Sears Modern Home #123 was promoted as being “a house built of honest material.”
Makes you wonder what “dishonest material” looks like.
In fact, it was an allusion to the fact that all the materials you’d need to complete your house would arrive – as promised – when you purchased your Sears Modern Home. You wouldn’t be shorted 10-feet of lumber or five pounds of nails, but you’d have a whole kit, lacking nothing.
Recently, Cindy Catanzaro found a Sears Modern Home #123 in Springfield, Ohio and was kind enough to share her photos with me. This is one of those Sears Homes that I’ve never seen “in the flesh” so this is pretty exciting to see photos of a #123.
In the 1908 catalog, this house was offered for $2,585 and yet two years later, in 1910, the price had dropped by more than half to $1,132.
To learn more about how to identify Sears Homes, click here.
Sears Modern Home #123 (1908 catalog).
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Same house as shown in the 1910 catalog. Look at the difference in price.
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As you can see from the floor plan, this was a very spacious house.
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The front bedroom was 21 x 14, which was unusually large for a house of this vintage. And there was a rear staircase off the back bedroom, which is also a pretty interesting feature.
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Close-up of #123 from the 1910 catalog.
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The House That Cindy Found, in Springfield. It's a perfect match to the house shown in the catalog picture (except for the TV antenna). (Photo is copyright 2012 Cindy Catanzaro and can not be used or reproduced without written permission.)
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Another view of #123. The small sash window on the front is a remnant of the large window that was originally placed where the large plate glass window is now, by the porch swing. (Photo is copyright 2012 Cindy Catanzaro and can not be used or reproduced without written permission.)
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There is another one at 17 Campwoods Rd in Ossining, NY. Looks like a daycare now :/
I believe it was built in 1911, maybe late 1910.
http://goo.gl/maps/2juHa