Catalog castles: How mail-order homes helped transform Lake Geneva's neighborhoods
By Carel Schmidlkofer
Originally published June 29, 2003
Decades before pre-fabricated building materials came on the scene, mail order homes had already revolutionized the housing industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Building a single-family home was an expense few working class Americans could afford at that time and most lived in multigenerational residences or boarding houses.
That changed with the advent of catalog homes-when for the first time this segment of the population could afford to build a home of their own.
Everything from pre-cut lumber to the nails for the walls were packaged to build the desired model, and delivered by rail for assembly by the purchaser.
Sears, Roebuck and Company seems to be the best-known supplier of mail-order homes, selling 57,000 of them by 1931.
The company also offered attractive financing terms directed at this specific market, making their catalog homes a huge success.
There are many kit homes in Walworth County, Wis., and most of them are undiscovered treasures that are as much a part of American history as the painted ladies of the Victorian era.
Historical architectural researcher, Rebecca Hunter, would like to see the homes in Walworth County documented and perhaps landmarked for future generations to enjoy.
Otherwise known as the "Sears Lady," Hunter travels the country searching for and documenting Sears catalog homes along with kit homes of other manufacturers.
She has been working on a preliminary survey of Walworth County by driving through the county comparing homes she thinks look like catalog homes to photographs and old catalogs.
In Lake Geneva alone Hunter's efforts have uncovered possibly 17 Sears, two Aladdins, four Gordon-Van Tines and one Lustron mail-order residences.
Hunter hopes that with such a high number of these homes in the community, the community's government or historical society might want her to carry out a complete survey.
"Because if I turn up that many just by casually driving through the 1920s neighborhood, there's probably going to be even more," said Hunter.
Hunter provided her listing of Lake Geneva catalog homes and The Week contacted some of the owners to see if any knew about their home's history.
One of them, George Godin, learned he lived in a Sears kit home when he went to pay his income taxes at city hall.
"They happened to have somebody there that knew the history of Lake Geneva," said Godin. "And he told me my house was built by Sears and Roebuck."
Godin, who has resided in the home for 38 years, said he thought he was the second owner of the property.
He wasn't quite sure which model his two-bedroom home was, but Hunter is betting it is the Clyde II, built in the 1920s.
The only way to know for sure is to have Hunter inspect the house and look for the tell-tale signs.
The easiest proof to obtain is finding a part number which would be on one of the structural boards which hasn't been painted.
Hunter said that most homeowners don't know what the numbers mean when they run across them in the course of a remodeling project.
Complicating matters is that before the pre-cut lumber was provided, Sears and the other companies sold building plans without materials until 1906 when the Aladdin Company began offering pre-cut lumber. Sears didn't jump on that bandwagon until 1915.
This makes documentation a challenge, but not an impossibility.
"With any luck, somebody left the blueprints in the attic or maybe there's some correspondence lying around in a box in the top closet shelf," said Hunter.
More than likely, Hunter will need to do some serious sleuthing to determine its origin-a time-consuming effort.
Armed with a 1910 Sears catalog, Hunter will compare hardware and fixtures in the home to catalog descriptions.
Each room is measured along with the outside of the house. If the dimensions match up with the catalog model, and all other items coincide with the catalog, it's a safe bet it is a Sears catalog house.
Checking with the grantor/grantee records at the county recorder of deeds office might provide the needed information, saving a lot of time, said Hunter.
The easy financing Sears and other catalog home companies offered their customers hit a snag during the Great Depression when thousands of their mortgages defaulted.
Hunter said those repossessions would be recorded with Sears listed as the grantee. When a new buyer was found, Sears was shown as the grantor.
"That's kind of a little back-door way to get some documentation," said Hunter.
The Depression was the beginning of the end for Sears' contribution to the kit home industry, which limped along uneventfully after a break until 1951. But mortgage financing wasn't offered after 1931.
The boom for Sears' kit homes was during the 1920s when their "Modern Homes" catalog expanded to 144 pages offering 90 different home designs.
Not only could a customer buy a home kit, but for a few dollars more could purchase the plumbing and electrical kits which were sold separately.
Outhouses, summer cottages, chicken coops and garages were offered as well.
Throughout the 1910s and early 1930s, home kits offered through their "Modern Homes" catalog had a price range from under $500 to over $4,000, with most costing less than $3,000.
Home sizes varied, from one-floor two-bedroom cottages to two-story nine-room mansions.
With charming names such as the Chelsea, Argyle, Starlight and Winona, a Sears mail order home could include up to 30,000 pieces of building materials the purchaser would assemble using the lengthy instruction manual.
While some opted to construct the houses themselves, many hired contractors.
Hunter calculated that using a multiple of 2.2 against the cost of the home would be an accurate estimate for the true cost of the entire project.
She estimates a savings of at least 20 percent building a catalog home as opposed to the traditional methods using an architect to plan the house and having lumber cut at the local mill yard, and purchasing everything else separately.
Sears, realizing the new homeowner would have to furnish their home, included floor plans with the placement of Sears furnishings throughout.
"A lot of people bought everything for the house from Sears," said Hunter. "Which was exactly what they were hoping would happen."
Who bought Sears' homes? While Hunter doesn't know the ages of the purchasers, she knows the occupations of her first study in Elgin, Ill., where she began her research in 1986.
"25 percent of the original owners in the Elgin study were in the building trades," said Hunter. "They would have had the skills to do it themselves."
"Another 25 percent worked for the Elgin watch factory which was the biggest employer in the entire town," she added. "And the rest of them were scattered among the trades and professions."
Hunter, a resident of Elgin, became interested in catalog homes when she ran across a book on mail-order homes at the local library.
"At that point I hadn't really heard of pre-cut homes," she said. "I didn't know what they were so I checked it out and I became fascinated."
Hunter has documented 160 of the 200 Sears homes she located in Elgin, which seems to be the largest number of their kit homes found in any one location in the country.
Hunter compiled her findings in a book, Elgin Sears House Research Project, and began searching other municipalities and including mail order homes from other companies besides Sears Roebuck.
Her research has uncovered Sears homes in 29 states and over 300 of their homes in Illinois alone.
"It's very joyous every time I spot one (kit home)," she said.
The researcher's focus to date has been in the Midwest, but she plans to cover the entire country in her search.
"I haven't done much on the East coast, and there's thousands and thousands out there," she said.
The researcher has gained recognition as an expert in catalog homes and tours the country speaking at public libraries, clubs and architectural associations, and has been featured in many local newspapers and television newscasts.
Hunter was hired by the city of Elgin to document Sears homes in their municipality, as well as West Chicago, Downers Grove, Lombard, Berwyn, Crete and Springfield, Ill. and Hartford, Wis.
Hunter has been commissioned by the Joliet Historical Preservation Commission in Illinois to document their kit homes for the purpose of creating a landmark district-a first in the country for catalog homes.
This is something Hunter would like to see more communities pursue.
Presently, she is gathering information for a reference guide for Gordon-Van Tine catalog homes and is co-authoring a book with James Chapa, A Field Guide To Sears Homes, due out in August.
Rebecca Hunter offers individual consultations, presentations, lectures, workshops and municipal surveys.
Write to her at 903 Cedar Avenue, Elgin, Ill. 60120, or call (847) 697-4551. Hunter's e-mail address is conspic@flash.net.
Originally published June 29, 2003
Decades before pre-fabricated building materials came on the scene, mail order homes had already revolutionized the housing industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Dan Plutchak/The Week
George Godin in front of his home on Williams Street in Lake Geneva in 2003. He and his wife have lived in the home for 38 years. It was purchased by a previous owner from a Sears catalog, and the model was called the Clyde II.
That changed with the advent of catalog homes-when for the first time this segment of the population could afford to build a home of their own.
Everything from pre-cut lumber to the nails for the walls were packaged to build the desired model, and delivered by rail for assembly by the purchaser.
Sears, Roebuck and Company seems to be the best-known supplier of mail-order homes, selling 57,000 of them by 1931.
The company also offered attractive financing terms directed at this specific market, making their catalog homes a huge success.
There are many kit homes in Walworth County, Wis., and most of them are undiscovered treasures that are as much a part of American history as the painted ladies of the Victorian era.
Dan Plutchak/The Week
This block on Williams St. in Lake Geneva has several Sears homes.
Otherwise known as the "Sears Lady," Hunter travels the country searching for and documenting Sears catalog homes along with kit homes of other manufacturers.
She has been working on a preliminary survey of Walworth County by driving through the county comparing homes she thinks look like catalog homes to photographs and old catalogs.
In Lake Geneva alone Hunter's efforts have uncovered possibly 17 Sears, two Aladdins, four Gordon-Van Tines and one Lustron mail-order residences.
The Week
Blueprints from a 1933 Sears home in Janesville, Wis.
"Because if I turn up that many just by casually driving through the 1920s neighborhood, there's probably going to be even more," said Hunter.
Hunter provided her listing of Lake Geneva catalog homes and The Week contacted some of the owners to see if any knew about their home's history.
One of them, George Godin, learned he lived in a Sears kit home when he went to pay his income taxes at city hall.
"They happened to have somebody there that knew the history of Lake Geneva," said Godin. "And he told me my house was built by Sears and Roebuck."
Godin, who has resided in the home for 38 years, said he thought he was the second owner of the property.
He wasn't quite sure which model his two-bedroom home was, but Hunter is betting it is the Clyde II, built in the 1920s.
The only way to know for sure is to have Hunter inspect the house and look for the tell-tale signs.
The easiest proof to obtain is finding a part number which would be on one of the structural boards which hasn't been painted.
Hunter said that most homeowners don't know what the numbers mean when they run across them in the course of a remodeling project.
Complicating matters is that before the pre-cut lumber was provided, Sears and the other companies sold building plans without materials until 1906 when the Aladdin Company began offering pre-cut lumber. Sears didn't jump on that bandwagon until 1915.
This makes documentation a challenge, but not an impossibility.
"With any luck, somebody left the blueprints in the attic or maybe there's some correspondence lying around in a box in the top closet shelf," said Hunter.
More than likely, Hunter will need to do some serious sleuthing to determine its origin-a time-consuming effort.
Armed with a 1910 Sears catalog, Hunter will compare hardware and fixtures in the home to catalog descriptions.
Each room is measured along with the outside of the house. If the dimensions match up with the catalog model, and all other items coincide with the catalog, it's a safe bet it is a Sears catalog house.
Checking with the grantor/grantee records at the county recorder of deeds office might provide the needed information, saving a lot of time, said Hunter.
The easy financing Sears and other catalog home companies offered their customers hit a snag during the Great Depression when thousands of their mortgages defaulted.
Hunter said those repossessions would be recorded with Sears listed as the grantee. When a new buyer was found, Sears was shown as the grantor.
"That's kind of a little back-door way to get some documentation," said Hunter.
The Depression was the beginning of the end for Sears' contribution to the kit home industry, which limped along uneventfully after a break until 1951. But mortgage financing wasn't offered after 1931.
The boom for Sears' kit homes was during the 1920s when their "Modern Homes" catalog expanded to 144 pages offering 90 different home designs.
Not only could a customer buy a home kit, but for a few dollars more could purchase the plumbing and electrical kits which were sold separately.
Outhouses, summer cottages, chicken coops and garages were offered as well.
Throughout the 1910s and early 1930s, home kits offered through their "Modern Homes" catalog had a price range from under $500 to over $4,000, with most costing less than $3,000.
Home sizes varied, from one-floor two-bedroom cottages to two-story nine-room mansions.
With charming names such as the Chelsea, Argyle, Starlight and Winona, a Sears mail order home could include up to 30,000 pieces of building materials the purchaser would assemble using the lengthy instruction manual.
While some opted to construct the houses themselves, many hired contractors.
Hunter calculated that using a multiple of 2.2 against the cost of the home would be an accurate estimate for the true cost of the entire project.
She estimates a savings of at least 20 percent building a catalog home as opposed to the traditional methods using an architect to plan the house and having lumber cut at the local mill yard, and purchasing everything else separately.
Sears, realizing the new homeowner would have to furnish their home, included floor plans with the placement of Sears furnishings throughout.
"A lot of people bought everything for the house from Sears," said Hunter. "Which was exactly what they were hoping would happen."
Who bought Sears' homes? While Hunter doesn't know the ages of the purchasers, she knows the occupations of her first study in Elgin, Ill., where she began her research in 1986.
"25 percent of the original owners in the Elgin study were in the building trades," said Hunter. "They would have had the skills to do it themselves."
"Another 25 percent worked for the Elgin watch factory which was the biggest employer in the entire town," she added. "And the rest of them were scattered among the trades and professions."
Hunter, a resident of Elgin, became interested in catalog homes when she ran across a book on mail-order homes at the local library.
"At that point I hadn't really heard of pre-cut homes," she said. "I didn't know what they were so I checked it out and I became fascinated."
Hunter has documented 160 of the 200 Sears homes she located in Elgin, which seems to be the largest number of their kit homes found in any one location in the country.
Hunter compiled her findings in a book, Elgin Sears House Research Project, and began searching other municipalities and including mail order homes from other companies besides Sears Roebuck.
Her research has uncovered Sears homes in 29 states and over 300 of their homes in Illinois alone.
"It's very joyous every time I spot one (kit home)," she said.
The researcher's focus to date has been in the Midwest, but she plans to cover the entire country in her search.
"I haven't done much on the East coast, and there's thousands and thousands out there," she said.
The researcher has gained recognition as an expert in catalog homes and tours the country speaking at public libraries, clubs and architectural associations, and has been featured in many local newspapers and television newscasts.
Hunter was hired by the city of Elgin to document Sears homes in their municipality, as well as West Chicago, Downers Grove, Lombard, Berwyn, Crete and Springfield, Ill. and Hartford, Wis.
Hunter has been commissioned by the Joliet Historical Preservation Commission in Illinois to document their kit homes for the purpose of creating a landmark district-a first in the country for catalog homes.
This is something Hunter would like to see more communities pursue.
Presently, she is gathering information for a reference guide for Gordon-Van Tine catalog homes and is co-authoring a book with James Chapa, A Field Guide To Sears Homes, due out in August.
Rebecca Hunter offers individual consultations, presentations, lectures, workshops and municipal surveys.
Write to her at 903 Cedar Avenue, Elgin, Ill. 60120, or call (847) 697-4551. Hunter's e-mail address is conspic@flash.net.
posted at 5:58 PM
1 Comments:
we're very proud of our sears lady!
Post a Comment
<< Home