Sometimes, looks can be really deceiving.
Take Hubby for example. He’s a handsome fellow, and a tough-as-nails litigator, and yet he has a tender heart and a sweet nature.
Wayne, the hubby. With his Christmas tie. And his tender heart.
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And here's another place where looks can be deceiving: Sears Homes and their clones. These are two different houses - theoretically. They sure do look alike.
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This is a Sears Montrose (1928).
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This is a design from the 1923 Homebuilder's Catalog: "The Arlington."
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Here's the floorplan for the Sears Montrose (1st floor).
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Here's the floorplan for the Homebuilder's Arlington.
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When you compare the two side-by-side, you can see some minor differences, but not a lot. They're almost the same house. Interior room dimensions were shifted just a wee bit, but other than that, these two are mighty close.
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And a comparison of the second floor shows a few other minor differences - again - mainly with room dimensions. And these are line drawings, so the proportions are not always accurately reflected.
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So how do you distinguish these look-alikes? How can you tell if it's a Sears House (or an Aladdin, or GVT or Lewis), or its twinkie from Homebuilder's?
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It's a question that may have no easy answer. Shown above is a Montrose in Kirkwood, MO.
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And within my collection of Sears "Montroses" - I wonder, how many of these are Homebuilder's designs? (House shown above is in Moorefield, WV.)
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It's a puzzler! (Portsmouth, Virginia)
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Good thing there's only one Wayne! š
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To learn more about the Montrose, click here.
Want to learn how to identify kit homes? Click here.
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Those darn pesky clones!
I imagine there are a lot of misidentified kit homes out there given the fact that they, Sears etc, acquired popular patterns for use in their kits quite often.
I think that from the street we are SOL. We can say it appears to be _____ .
The only way to positively id one of the “clones” is an interior inspection for millwork and materials , possibly stenciling and/or shipping labels and maybe even a mortgage.