The foursquare is one of my favorite housing styles (but then again, I love them all). For 18 years, my name was Rosemary Fuller, so I have a special affinity for the Sears Fullerton for familial reasons, too!
The Fullerton was one of Sears most popular housing styles and it’s easy to identify because it has many distinctive features. Most notable are the flared columns on the front porch with the paneled columns on top. The Fullerton also has three windows on the home’s front, and the small “landing window” on the side. The attic dormer is also distinctive. The Sears Fullerton has a broad, low dormer window with an undersized sash.
This foursquare also has something I have never seen on any other Sears House: A fireplace chimney that’s centered on the roof! The Fullerton has a pyramidal hip roof, and the chimney is very near the apex of that pyramidal hip. As the chimney rises up through the attic, the bricks are laid in a “twist,” so that the chimney pops out through the roof’s center.
It’s one of the most unusual features I’ve ever seen in a kit house, and it’s unique to the Fullerton.
To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.
If you’re here to read about Addie’s exhumation, this is the place to click.
Sears Fullerton as seen in the 1925 catalog.
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So many reasons to love the Fullerton...
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The Fullerton had "good morning" stairs, which was a small staircase that opened into the kitchen. The idea was you could toddle downstairs and enter the kitchen without disturbing the folks in the living room.
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The 1925 catalog featured some "interior" views. This shot of the staircase shows another unique feature: That closet door off the landing, and the small built-in table by the door.
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The fireplace in the living room dominates the Fullerton.
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And the most modern kitchen!
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Notice the flared brick columns with the paneled tops (1925).
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Sears Fullerton in Aurora, IL, replete with flared columns and paneled tops!
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Sears Fullerton in Hampton. Notice that tiny window in that massive dormer.
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Classic Fullerton in Olmstead, IL.
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Another classic Fullerton, but this one has endured some plasticine siding and icky replacement windows. This house is in DC, which is not known for being kind to their Sears Homes. In 2008, the municipality tore down a *beautiful* Sears Fullerton, despite a massive grass roots effort to save the house. Photo is copyright 2012 Catarina Bannier and can not be used or reproduced without specific permission.
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Sears Fullerton in Roanoke with a porte cochere.
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Sears Fullerton in Wood River, Illinois. In the 1930s, a tornado went through this area and destroyed many of the front porches.
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Elgin, IL has the largest known collection of kit homes in the country. This Fullerton is in Elgin. Dr. Hunter has done an amazing amount of research on Sears Homes, and she's the author of several books on the topic. She lives in Elgin, IL.
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The Fullerton was the one of two foursquares that endured into the early 1930s, and appeared in the 1933 "Low Cost Homes" catalog.
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To learn more about Dr. Hunter and her books, click here.
To visit Dr. Hunter’s website, click here.
To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.
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What a fabulous home! Proportioned, balanced and gracious, but not ostentatious!
I just found out my home is a Sears Home!
When I searched for it I found this page and all the info about my house “the Fullerton” mine looks so much like the original image pictured.
This was really fun to read about. Thank you for the content!
Anyone notice the detail of the windows in the illustration being open?
@Gemma
Gemma, actually I think those are window shades. I had to look, too! But if you examine it closely, the wooden window sash is white, and it appears to be in the fully closed position.
Good observation though!
Ah! So it is!
I grew up in a kit house and so far this looks the closest, aside from some notable differences: smaller porch, closet placement, no mantel in the living room, no front window to the attic. Do you know if there were other models that were really similar?
This is the actual house on Zillow. 😄 https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/405-E-Oak-St-Mason-MI-48854/74033815_zpid/ it had two later additions on the back to add what is now half of the master bedroom, upper deck, kitchen, dining room, and back “TV” room. I really love this era of homes and would love to find the kit it came from.