This Sunday (September 15th), I’ll be in Louisa, Virginia (near Charlottesville) giving a talk on the kit homes in Louisa County.
In the last 12 years, I’ve given more than 250 lectures in 26 states, and the #1 comment I hear from attendees is, “This was such fun, and I learned so much!”
A few fun facts:
* Sears Kit Homes were not prefab homes, but were true kits. Each 12,000-piece kit came with a a 75-page instruction book and a promise that “a man of average abilities” could have it assembled in 90 days.
* The instruction book offered this somber warning: “Do not take anyone’s advice on how this house should be assembled.”
* The framing members were marked with a letter and a three-digit-number to facilitate construction. Today, these marks can help authenticate that a house is a kit home.
* More than 3/4ths of the people living in these homes don’t realize that they’ve living in a historically significant home!
* And 80% of the people who think that they have a Sears Home are wrong!
* Searching for these homes is like hunting for hidden treasure. From 1908-1940, about 70,000 Sears Homes were sold, but in the 1940s, during a corporate housecleaning, Sears destroyed all sales records. The only way to find these homes is literally one-by-one.
I hope you’ll be able to come out and join us on September 15th at 2:00 pm, at 214 Fredericksburg Avenue in Louisa.
The auditorium only holds 200 people, so get there early!
And if you know anyone who loves old houses, please invite them to join you!
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Okay, actually this is a simple mailer that Aladdin sent out to their customers the late 1910s to let people know that their Aladdin catalog was on its way. It was so cute I decided I could use it here.
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Aladdin was a bigger company than Sears (in terms of mail-order kit home sales). Here in Southern Virginia, I've found far more Aladdin Houses than Sears. While Aladdin was based in Bay City (Michigan), they had a very large mill in Wilmington, NC. The red dot shows where Louisa is located. Or that's what my husband claims. I have plenty of trouble with maps that have lots of detail. Maps like this leave me feeling like I need to lie down for a bit.
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One of my favorite finds in Louisa was this Aladdin "Cape Cod" (model name).
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Ooh la la, what a pretty house! And it's in Louisa!
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Also found an Aladdin Madison! (From the 1937 catalog)
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The front entry has been squared up and enclosed, but other than that, it's a good match!
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My favorite find was the Aladdin Kentucky! (From the 1915 catalog).
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This was a spacious and fine home.
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Of all the houses I've found in my house-hunting career, this beauty is certainly one of my Top Ten Favorites. It looks much like it did when it first appeared in the 1912 Aladdin Homes catalog. Original windows, original cypress clapboards, original columns and porch. Good golly, what a house.
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Man oh man, what a match!
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I'll also be talking about what I found in nearby communities, such as this Aladdin Shadowlawn in Orange!
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And what a fine-looking Shadowlawn it is.
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The Wexford, from the 1936 Sears Modern Homes catalog.
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Mineral is best known as the epicenter of the August 2011 earthquake. It's also the home to a perfect Sears Wexford. The house was "reversed" from the original image shown in the catalog, which was a common option.
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And look what I found in Charlottesville!
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It's a picture-perfect Sears Rockford! Charlottesville has several kit homes that I discovered during a quickie drive-through. I'm sure there are many more just begging to be found.
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To get more information about the upcoming talk, please contact Elaine at info@louisacountyhistoricalsociety.org
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About Rose:
Rose Thornton has traveled throughout the country, seeking and finding Sears Homes. In that time, she’s written dozens of newspaper and magazine articles and several books.
Rose is the author of The Houses That Sears Built (2002,) Finding the Houses That Sears Built (2004) and she’s the co-author of California’s Kit Homes (2004) and Montgomery Wards Mail-Order Homes (2010). Rose’s newest book – The Sears Homes of Illinois – was published in 2011.
Rose has traveled to 26 states to give more than 200 lectures on Sears Homes, from Bungalow Heaven in Los Angeles to The Smithsonian in Washington, DC. She has addressed a wide variety of audiences from architectural preservationists in Boston, St. Louis and Chicago to kit home enthusiasts in small towns across America.
Rose has appeared on PBS (History Detectives), A&E (Biography), CBS (Sunday Morning News) and her book was featured in its own category on Jeopardy. She is considered the country’s #1 authority on kit homes. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, L. A. Times, Dallas Morning News, Old House Journal, American Bungalow, Blue Ridge Country and about 100 other publications. Twice in the last three years, the story of her unique career was picked up by the AP and in May 2009, she was interviewed on BBC Radio.
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I was sorry to miss your presentation in Louisa County, VA and enjoyed the comparative pictures you posted here.
I’m aware of examples of what I was told are Sears homes in Bremo Bluff (Fluvanna County, VA) and wonder if you know of any examples of mail order homes in Buckingham County, VA.
The followers of my blog, Slate River Ramblings, would love to know more. Thanks for a wonderful website!
Joanne,
I’ve never been to Bremo Bluff!
Send me some photos of the early 20th Century houses in the area.
Rose
Rosemary, I’m sorry I missed your Louisa presentation. I did want to tell you about a Sears home that is for sale in our community (Dahlgren, VA).
It is a one-owner home that was constructed in 1925 and just came on the market when the original owner passed this summer at almost 108 years of age.
It is a stucco bungalow, has the original Sears water heater and a Montgomery Ward coal furnace in the basement, original windows, beadboard porch ceiling, original screened porch panels (they hook on), and many original fixtures and built-ins.
It has not had many updates (still has a fuse box, cast iron piping, and a gorgeous well cover). If you would like, I can send you exterior pictures if you’ll send your email address.
Also, if you want to travel to Dahlgren (about 3 hours from Norfolk), the agent would love to show you the interior (it needs work, believe me) for documentation’s sake, plus I could take you to lunch as well as show you my 1927 bungalow, which was based on the 1927 Starlight model, but stick-built by a ship’s carpenter.
I used to post on OHW as matchbookhouse, and later as downtowndahlgren.
Thanks much,
Sue Ellen Kling