Oscar Heppe’s Ivanhoe

Almost five years ago, I wrote a blog on the Sears Ivanhoe in LaGrange, Illinois (discovered in a promotional flyer), and mentioned that it’d be fun to have a contemporary photo of the 1913-built house. Some time later, William Frymark found the house in...

The Sears Home in Needham, Massachusetts

Last week, I visited Needham, Massachusetts and spent time with my daughter, Anna Rose. After a Saturday morning breakfast, we were driving back to her house when I saw a house that caught my eye on Webster Avenue. As she pulled up to a nearby stop sign, I hopped out...

The Sears Ivanhoe: Big, Bold and Boxy

More than 100 of the 370 designs that Sears offered during their 32 years in the kit home business were named after cities in Illinois (107 to be precise). The Ivanhoe was not one of them. I’m not sure who dreamed up this name for this behemoth of a house, but...

The Ivanhoe, By Sears

The Magnolia was Sears biggest and best (and most expensive) kit home, but the Ivanhoe was a close second. I’ve only seen a few of these in my travels, and one of them was in Lewisburg, WV and the other was in Elmhurst, Illinois. According to the testimonials...