Hopewell! Alas, poor Hopewell.
They have an interesting collection of Aladdin kit homes, and yet for reasons that elude me, they’ve done nothing to promote these homes.
One example is this Aladdin “Carnation” (shown below). It sits in a working class neighborhood within Hopewell that has suffered two egregious fates: 1) These kit homes – modest, working class homes – have been largely ignored, and 2) Many of these modest homes have already been demolished.
For years, I’ve been trying to identify this particular house, as it’s smack dab in the middle of an Aladdin neighborhood (in Hopewell), but I couldn’t find a perfect match.
And then recently, while I was scanning a 1916 Aladdin catalog, I discovered this particular model.
One day – some day – I’m going to create a post of all the cool and unusual Aladdin homes I’ve found within this working class neighborhood in Hopewell. Today, I’ll just focus on my newest find: The Aladdin Carnation.
To read about the only Aladdin Brighton I’ve ever seen (and it’s within Hopewell), click here.
To learn more about the “back story” of Hopewell’s confusion on kit homes, click here.
Wondering where that title came from? Click here.
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For years, I was trying to "match up" the Hopewell house I'd found (photo further below) with this particular model, but it just wasn't a good match (1916 Aladdin Catalog).
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And then I discovered this house: The Carnation. It's very similar to the Forsythe (shown above) but it's a little bigger and has the double windows. The floorplan is radically different.
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Cute house, too. I love the windows flanking the door.
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Nice match, isn't it?
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And lookie next door! There's another Aladdin house, but I can't quite make it out.
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Oh, I love looking at them side-by-side!
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Note the built-in "permanent furniture" in the front bedroom!
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Many of these "permanent family abodes" have already been torn down in Hopewell. It's so troubling for so many reasons, but in my opinion, the working class neighborhoods are an important part of our cultural and architectural heritage as well. More and more communities are coming to recognize that simple fact.
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Hopewell is still struggling with what is, and what is not a Sears Home. One of these houses is not like the other. Three of these homes are Sears Magnolias. One of these houses is in Hopewell. Which one is not a Magnolia? If you guessed the brick colonial (lower right), you guessed right. And yet in Hopewell, for many years, they claimed that this house was a Sears Magnolia, and when I tried to correct this error, I was not well received.
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To learn more about Hopewell’s booboos, click here.
Interested in learning how to identify kit homes by the marks found on lumber? Click here.
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That house that you can’t quite make out, the hipped roof bungalow, is an Aladdin Denver 🙂
Actually, there are TWO Aladdin Denver’s there. The house two doors to the right is a Denver as well.
The folks in Hopewell might be interested in knowing that the Aladdin Carnation was only offered for two years, 1915 and 1916.
Well, then again, maybe not LOL.