When Rebecca and I were reviewing and comparing our Life Lists, Rebecca identified the Sears Beaumont as one of the Sears Homes that she’d never seen.
“I’ve only seen one,” I told her, “and it was in Carlinville, Illinois.”
Rebecca laughed out loud and said, “I might have driven right past it and not noticed it!”
Me, too.
In 2004, I gave a talk in Carlinville on Sears Homes.
The event was organized by Beth Kaburick, Head Librarian at the Carlinville Public Library. I was so impressed with her professionalism and her passion for Carlinville’s history. I had first met Beth in 1999, when I spent countless hours at her library, researching Sears Homes, first for an article, and then later for my books.
Beth went out of her way to help me with my research. In 2004, when I gave the talk in Carlinville, it was well publicized and well attended, thanks wholly to Beth. (Sadly, Beth died in June 2007 in a tragic car accident.)
It was after that talk that someone told me about a Sears Home outside of Standard Addition (where 150 Sears Homes are located). The gentleman gave me the street name but wasn’t sure of the specific address.
Immediately after the talk, I drove up and down that street – in the dark – trying to figure out which Sears House I’d missed! As the author of several books on kit homes, I’d driven on that street too many times to count, and had never seen any Sears Homes.
And there in the dark, I saw an interesting Colonial Revival/Bungalowish-type house with a familiar-looking attic window. I grabbed my dog-eared copy of Houses by Mail and hastily thumbed through it and found my match: The house I’d found in the dark – thanks to a kind stranger at a lecture – was a Sears Beaumont.
That was eight years ago, and it was (and remains) the only Beaumont I’ve ever seen.
To see vintage pictures of Carlinville and Schoper, click here.
To read about the woman who supervised the construction of Standard Addition, click here.
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In the 1919 catalog, the heading proclaimed that the Beaumont had "Extra convenience." Unfortunately, the text in the body offers no clue as to what they're talking about.
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In 1921, the price on the Beaumont increased $500 or about 26%. Pretty steep increase for two year's time. And apparently what it gained in price it lost in "convenience." Now the heading had changed from the dramatic ("Extra convenience") to the pedestrian ("Six rooms and bath").
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The Beaumont's floorplan (1921 catalog).
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The Beaumont, as it looked in 2004.
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In February 2010, I traveled to Carlinville to do more research for my book, "The Sears Homes of Illinois." That's when this photograph was taken. Notice, a plague of vinyl siding salesmen had descended upon the house since the last photo in 2004.
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Another view of the Beaumont.
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That night, when I first saw the Beaumont, it was the attic window that caught my eye.
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Nice match to the catalog picture!
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To learn more about the 150 Sears Homes in Carlinville, click here or here.
To buy Rose’s newest book, click here.
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