How many homes must a nation tear down, before they can say it’s enough?
Old kit homes, that is.
Earlier this week, I wrote about a kit home in Haymarket, Virginia that is now on Death Row. Through the years, I’ve written about many kit homes that have been torn down. It does get depressing.
Today, there’s a new one: The Sears Crescent in Godfrey, IL.
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It started when a dear reader left this comment.
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You heard it here first.
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Sadly, it died sometime in late 2014 or early 2015.
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A Google view of the site shows a fresh wound on the earth, where our Sears Crescent stood for more than 80 years. The "street view" (captured 12.21.2015) was taken by Google on July 2015.
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Here's an old 35mm slide of the house from about 2004 (or earlier).
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In February 2010, I photographed the house for inclusion in my book, "The Sears Homes of Illinois." It's so disturbing to see the Midwest tearing down these homes.
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The Sears Crescent was a popular house for Sears, and probably arrived at the Alton train station in about 12,000 pieces. Some family labored for months to assemble their fine Sears Crescent (1929 catalog). Each house came with a 75-page instruction book and a promise that "a man of average abilities" could have the house assembled in about 90 days.
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When are we going to decide, enough is enough?
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To learn more about what makes Sears Homes historically significant, click here.
There are several other kit homes in the Alton/Godfrey area. One of my favorites is here.
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This poor house was neglected for many years.
If you go back through all of the google street views available you will see that this house looks just like your 2010 photo.
Never painted back to 2008!
What a shame.