The Kit Homes of Chapel Hill, NC

Chapel Hill is a city full of hazards for a house hunter such as myself. First, there are the trees. Lots and lots of mature trees, which makes it difficult to see the houses. Secondly, there are bushes. Ligustrums, Photinias, Hollies, Nandina and Wax Myrtles are...

The Calumet: 20 Rooms in 12!

Sears always had an interesting way of ciphering. The Calumet was a four-apartment kit “house” with 12 rooms. The “20 rooms in 12” was a little misleading. The eight mystery rooms were “bedrooms” which were really teeny-tiny...

Lost in Lynchburg! (Virginia)

My friend Rebecca is working on a new project and asked me to find this 1910s kit home in Lynchburg, Virginia. Most folks have heard of Sears Kit Homes, but in addition to Sears, there were six companies selling kit homes through mail order. Their names were Gordon...