In 2002, when I wrote The Houses That Sears Built, I lived in Alton, Illinois. Many, many times I drove past this house on the main drag, never really paying attention to it. It was probably a year after I’d written my book that I happened to notice this badly blighted house was a Sears Gladstone.
For a time, I wondered if I should even bother putting it on my “list” as a Sears House. It was such poor condition that its original beauty was hardly discernible. Would this help or hinder my cause of promoting Sears Homes in Southwestern Illinois?
Ultimately, I did add it to my list. A short time later, the house (and its glommed-on addition) was demolished.
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Several times, I tried to get a photo of the house sans trash pile, but it seemed to be one of those houses that *always* had trash piled up in front.
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If you look closely at the second floor, you can see where the double windows were removed and replaced with storm windows. Double icky.
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The Sears Gladstone was actually a very popular house (1916 catalog).
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By today's standards, the Gladstone (an American Foursquare) wasn't very spacious but in the early 1900s, this was considered an average-sized home.
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As seen in the 1916 Modern Homes catalog.
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And here's a fine Gladstone in West Virginia. This house can bee seen from I-64, and it's located about 30 minutes east of Charleston, WV. I always wave at it when I go by.
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Pretty cool, huh? 🙂
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To read more about Sears Homes (and see more photos), click here.
I think we are living in a Gladstone in Culver, Indiana.