What Was the the Best Kit House Sears or Allidin

Guide to Kit Houses & Homes
List of Manufacturers of Kit Homes
How to Identify Kit Houses

• POST a QUESTION or COMMENT virtually kit homes: sources, history, identification, repair, inspection

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of involvement. Nosotros have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

List of Kit Domicile Manufacturers in North America and other locations.

This article lists the manufacturers of kit or catalog homes sold in the United States and provides links to additional references, kit home identification, kit or catalog dwelling restoration and repairs, and kit domicile architectural and hardware details, markings, and stencils.

Benefiting from Hunter'south work as well as our own search we listing a number of kit or itemize habitation manufacturers hither.

We also provide an ARTICLE Index for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX equally a quick style to find data you need.

A Listing of Manufacturers of Kit Homes and their Identification Markings

We've had modest success finding details nigh other kit home companies selling in the United States and Canada and accept fabricated a few additions (found below) to a list complied past Rebecca Hunter. She lists a diversity of kit firm companies.

[Click to enlarge whatsoever image]

• Aladdin Kit Homes: Aladdin Kit Home visitor (originally the North American Construction Co., Ltd.) operated betwixt 1906 and 1981 in the U.S. Details are
  at ALADDIN KIT HOUSES. Aladdin Readi-Cutting Homes: Beating Sears to the kit habitation marketplace, Aladdin, in Bay City Michigan, 1906-1981 began selling kits in 1906. The company sold "pre-cut" home kits to build cottages and afterward arts-and-crafts homes.

  In Canada Aladdin kit homes were sold past the Canadian Aladdin Company (originally the Sovereign Structure Company), Canada'due south largest post-order kit home company in Toronto with offices in St. John, Winnipeg and Vaqncouver and with product lumber mills in Ontario, New Brunswic, and B.C..

  Also see Sterling Kit Homes and Lewis Liberty Kit Homes beneath. The American Aladdin Kit Home visitor and Sterling and Lewis-Liberty companies eventually merged. 35 kit home models were available in 1949. Over 75,000 homes were sold by Aladdin. Past the 1960's delivery of these kit homes shifted from rail to truck delivery, which may mean that in that location will be more homes of this vintage and afterward built further from track stations.

  Rebecca Hunter says that Aladdin Readi Cut homes and also Lewis and Sterling Kit homes (see beneath) may exist identified past grease pencil markings on lumber:

  "Company numbers are handwritten in grease pencil, usually in the heart of a board. They consist of numerals, usually hyphenated in groups of ii or 3. Some of the numbers are fractions, e.g. 42-xviii-11 3/4. Part names may be stamped in ink." [Annotation: this is not the case for all Aladdin Kit homes, as nosotros demonstrate at ALADDIN KIT HOUSES where stencilled markings are indicated on building framing and sheathing - Ed.]

  More about Canadian Kit Homes is in Henry, Les, Post-order Houses, at the Canadian Museum of History, http://world wide web.historymuseum.ca/

• B.C. Mills Timber and Trading Company Kit Homes, Vancouver Canada, shipped both houses and pre-cut banks and commercial buildings from 1904 - 1911.

Shown here: a Bennett DuraBilt kit home, the Danbury. [Click to enlarge any paradigm]

• Bennett Kit Homes: Improve-built Kit Homes & Fix-Cut Kit Homes were sold past the Bennet Abode and Lumber Company was founded by Ray H. Bennett in North Tonawanda NY 1902- ca 1935.

  Online discussions include a 1926 Bennett Homes Kit firm, in Clarence NY,a volume upcoming past Dale Wolicki, and some itemize photos at http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1920-Bennett/ which cites that "Bennett Homes are concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, as well as into the upper Midwest."

  Sources of information for Bennett Kit homes include

  Forgotten Buffalo Website, Ray H. Bennett Homes of North Tonawanda NY, photos of Ray H. Bennett homes, Web folio: http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/forgottenbflofeatures/rayhbennetthome.html

  Harris, Richard. "The talk of the boondocks: kit manufacturers negotiate the building industry, 1905-1929." Journal of urban history 36, no. 6 (2010): 868-896.

  North Tonawanda History Museum, Ray Bennett Lumber Co., 712 Oliver Street, Due north Tonawanda, NY 14120 USA, at Niagara Falls, Website: https://www.niagarafallsusa.com/directory/north-tonawanda-history-museum/ The current museum website is not much assistance, hard to find, poor online presence, but this museum previously hosted photographs and historical information about the Ray Bennett Lumber Co.

• Better Homes & Gardens Business firm Plans: Better Homes & Gardens, or BHG, in partnershipo with TheHouseDesigners and a part of the Meredith Corporation, is a contemporary seller of house plans and blueprints for more than 4000 house designs. BHG has been a provider of house plans in the U.S. since the1930's (Bild-Price abode plans), standing with BHG's Five Star House Plans in the 1950's and still active selling house plans today: Website: http://houseplans.bhg.com/

  In before incarnations, Better Homes & Gardens has a long history in the home improvement and remodeling indujstry including remodeling competitions begun with a 1932 "How Nosotros Rebuilt" contest. (Goldstein 1998). In the 1950's BHG also provided suggestions for the construction of fallout shelters. (Lichtman 2006).

  Our research has not found records of BHG always selling kit homes. [Citations welcome]

• Bilt-Well Kit Homes, Bilt-Well Mill Piece of work Co. Commencement in 1866, Bilt-Well, a Peoria, Illinois company, produced millwork, including cabinetry, doors, windows, trim, as well equally kit homes. See this

  BILT-WELL MILL Work Pattern Volume NO. 55 [PDF] (1937)

...

Above: a Bilt-Well kit home, # BW-4246 and BW-4247, and an example of millwork produced by Bilt-Well Millwork Co.

[Click to overstate any image]

Below: a Filly Houses Timber Framed Domicile Kit Habitation produced by WH Filly & Son.

• Colt HOUSES (1954), [PDF, 2.ane MB] provided hither including the example just to a higher place, is a document containing house plans produced by West.H. Filly & Son, Ltd., Bethersden Nr. Ashford, Kent. In 1954, Colt timber houses, manufactured by Colt at the company'due south manufacturing plant in the Kentish Weald had been sold since 1930.

  By 1954 ColtTimber-Frame Houses had b een nether product for 30 years.

  The company described their homes as: "... they must non be considered equally resembling ordinary "prefabs." When erected, each firm has an individual character and in that location is no feeling of mass production or standardisation." - courtesy of Building Technology Heritage Library, produced past the Association for Preservation Technology, is a superb resources for one-time building researchers, owners, or restorers. website: https://archive.org/details/buildingtechnologyheritagelibrary

  Reference: W.H. Colt & Co., Colt Houses, 1954, Also meet data about modern Colt houses in the U.K. at http://colthouses.co.uk/

Below: Page from a 1925 Dodds Kit House Catalog.

• Dodds Homes, ca 1914 by Everett S. Dodds, a Nebraska dwelling designer, produced a plan book of affordable ($3000 - $5000) firm designs. From our research Dodds produced home designs, probably a number of which were built in Nebraska, but not actual kit-homes.

  more information is
  at the Nebraska History weblog https://history.nebraska.gov/blog/exercise-yous-accept-dodds-design-book-business firm-your-neighborhood
  and
  at antiquehome.org and at "the daily bungalow"
  and
  at the Clan for Preservation Technology (APT)

• Eaton Catalogue Homes, provided by the T. Eaton Company in western Canada were provided from near 1904 through 1939.
  More than information: Run into Henry, Les, Postal service-order Houses, a http://www.historymuseum.ca/

  At higher up / left, a page from a 1940's Eaton Kit Home catalog showing home No. 678.

[Click to overstate whatever epitome]

• Fenner Factory Cut Homes, Northward Portland, Oregon, provided kit homes between 1912 and 1928. Shown above: the Fenner "Columbia" kit dwelling house.

Beneath: a Gordon Van Tine Company Kit Home, the Brentood

• Gordon Van Tine Catalog Homes: Prepare-Cut Kit Homes Davenport Iowa 1907 (mayhap 1912) to 1946 or 1947 (depending on source).

  Gordon VanTine kit home itemize pages like the page from a 1931 itemize shown above indicate that the company was founded in 1865.

  For identifying marks on Gordon Van Tine Catalog Homes encounter notes at Montgomery Wards Kit Homes only below.

  Run across http://www.gordonvantine.com/ for more than about the Gordon-Van Tine Visitor.

Below: a Harris Kit Home.

• Harris Homes: a Chicago company in business concern from 1913 to 1960, maybe selling kit homes between 1912 and 1925. Ms. Hunter [see references below] indicates that Harris Kit Homes may be identified by markings on framing: "numbers are stenciled in ink, often in the middle of a lath, and may be numerals alone, or numerals and letters, or Roman numerals. E.1000. 76, HR 50, RI 32 or AII.

  Home model number and/or lodge number may be written in grease pencil."

  Harris Brothers Company, 35th & Iron St., Chicago, "Harris Home Cute" provided a large number of cottage & home plans and specifications & plans for supplementary buildings such as garages.

  The Harris company offered kit homes in two forms: plans plus materials for on-site assembly (the Harris Program-Cut home) or partly-assembled building sections (the Harris Unit-Built system) using panelized partly-assembled building walls or roof sections using the company's patented "unit of measurement-congenital" system.

  Harris advertised that their Harris Unit-Congenital garage kit could be erected in a unmarried day. The Harris kit dwelling company besides provided a diverseness of schoolhouses that were also "unit built" - an early version of panelized construction.

  Other Harris kits included lumber, roof shingles, siding, intgerior board, oak flooring,door frames, windows, moldings, glass, insulating felt (roofing felt), hardware, nailes, roof gutters and leaders, even paints, stains, varnishes. More information: antiquehome.org

Question: practise these grease-pencil markings"X14-0-5" in my habitation identify which make or kit model it may exist?

(July 16, 2020) Tumblin said:

I am wondering if anyone has information on how to find this home/cottage/garage congenital betwixt 1906 and 1925?

Information technology looks to me that is states X14-0-5 in the blue grease pen.

Moderator answer:

Not coding I've seen, Tumb but we'll keep the photo hither to invite reader annotate.

Indeed some kit homes like the Harris Homes discussed here had a model number written in grease pencil on some of the framing members.

• Hartmenn'due south Homes, Chicago IL:
  Reader research: (Sept 20, 2014) E Browder said:

  Does anyone have information on kit homes made by Hartmenn's in Chicago? I am doing enquiry on Principal Architect Elton Moughton, Jr., one of their architects from Florida.

  Reply:
  EB. I also researched Hartmann and Hartmenn spelling variations for kit homes merely with little success to date, except an Australian contact that's more contemporary. For information about the Australian Hartmann see
  Hartmann & Cunington
  4 Seahorse Crt, Bribie Island, QLD 4507
  0418 712 796
  QLD-Regional >> Sunshine Coast

• Honor Bilt kit homes (Sears) [citations needed], included a uncomplicated two story colonial manner domicile, the Beaumont.

  The Honour-Bilt home kit included lumber, "Fire-Principal" roll covering, wood wainscot used for a porch ceiling, felt paper, gutters and leaders, hardware, pigment, kitchen cabinets and other fatures.

  [Photo copies of pages from the Honor Bilt Habitation instruction book are available on request - Ed. ]

Below: the Elmdale, a Lewis Kit Abode.

...

• Lewis Liberty Catalog Homes: Bay City Michigan. Run across "Lewis/Liberty Homes - 59 Years in the Fix-Cutting Homes Business organisation," Robert Schweitzer and Sally Linvill Bund, Michigan History, Book 79, Number 2, March 1995. As well see Rebecca Hunter reference information beneath.

  Liberty Kit Homes like the Elmdale and the Hollywood (1922) shown to a higher place were provided by Lewis Manufacturing Company, Bay Urban center MI between 1925 and 1973

• Lustron Steel Homes: The Lustron company, started in Columbus Ohio in 1947 with a government loan afterwards WW II past Carl Strandlund, provided [generally] ranch-style steel home kits - the unabridged home was built of steel products: framing, walls, trusses, roof covering, even interior ceiling tiles.

  Strandlund was interested in a porcelain coated steel process that was to be corrosion resistant. See www.lustron.cyberspace and also http://www.lustronconnection.org/steelhomestoday.html (a website put upwards by Kodiak Steel Homes, a mod producer) which gives some history of the company and cites

  "The Lustron homes were designed to be maintenance free, cost approximately $7,000, and were produced in 1949 and 1950. These homes were considered to be three times stronger that a traditional stick built dwelling and were advertised as being rodent proof, fire proof , lightening proof, and rustproof.".

  After selling 2,498 homes (a much smaller number than the number of orders received) in 1950 Lustron alleged defalcation. 1800 Lustron homes are collected at the U.South. Marine Corps preparation center in Quantico Virigina, merely starting time in January 2006 the Corps announced that these homes would be given away. (If you lot didn't use past Apr 2006 y'all're probably as well late.)

• Modern Homes Construction Visitor: Burnham Kelly, ‎Roger Thyer - was the President of Modern Homes Corporation, located in Dearborn, Michigan.

  He spoke about the requirements for pre-fab firm construction at a briefing (Building Enquiry Institute 4th Annual Meeting - 1955) that is described in this volume:

  Kelly, Burnham, and Roger Thyer. Prefabrication of Houses: What information technology Demands of Building Products and Equipment. National Academies, 1955. The conference proceedings (soft bound) book may be available from abebooks.com.

  Thyer also spoke in the aforementioned year on the use of plastics in buildings, and is listed in proceedings published in the Building Research Institute's "Plastics in Buildings" published by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council in 1955. This publication is available as an online scanned tex via google's books project.

  The visitor had manufacturing plants for pre-fab homes in Dearborn MI and in Port Jervis NY. There are some home brochure blazon publications illustrating Modernistic Homes Corporation lines a "Luxury Line" and a "Value Line".

  • Modern Homes Structure Company - VALUE BROCHURE [PDF]

    - use your browser's "Dorsum" push to return here

  • Modern Homes Construction Company - LUXURY LINE BROCHURE [PDF]
  • Modernistic Homes Construction Company - PORTFOLIO BROCHURE[PDF]

    Reader query: I have documentation showing that my grandmother's dwelling house in rural Georgia was purchased through "Modernistic Homes Construction Visitor" (I have the purchase contract). With it came home insurance through the Modernistic Homes Insurance Agency, Inc. of Valdosta, Georgia.

    The dwelling was purchased 9-9-1963 and was a Eldarada [sic - Eldorado?] Deluxe with within Group - Shelled on Lot". Internet searches find a couple lawsuits in the mid-1960s confronting these companies or Sears Modern Homes which supposedly doesn't go past 1940/42.

    Anyone know anything more near these companies. My ultimate goal is to find the original picture/description of the home and it'south options from a catalog. Thanks! e-mail me at JoyKerseyAThotmailDOTcom

    - Joy Fisher 11/26/2014

Below: 2 examples of Wardway kit homes from Montgomery Ward.

... ... [Click to enlarge any image]

• Montgomery Wards Catalog Kit Homes: also referred to as Wardway Kit Homes. Montgomery Wards, a Chicago company, sold catalog homes or "kit houses" under the name Wardway Homes from 1910 to 1931, with sales of pre-cut domicile kits showtime in 1921 and catastrophe in 1931.

  Rebecca Hunter says that Wards Kit Homes might be identified past lumber markings "numbers are handwritten in grease pencil, usually in the middle of a board. They consist of numerals, hyphenated in groups, e.k. 17-21-19, or iii-5 digit numerals. Part names are stamped in capital letter letters virtually 1" high (eastward.1000. "ceiling joist" "top rail"). Commitment accost may exist stamped or stenciled in ink."

• Lewis Kit Homes: for possible identifying marks on Lewis Kit homes meet notes above at Aladdin.
• Pacific Kit Homes: a California catalog home company in the structure business from 1908 to at to the lowest degree 1940. (The company made surfboards 1929-1940), possibly selling kit homes for at least some years between 1919 and 1925.

  Hunter estimates that the company sold 37,000 homes in states west of the Rocky Mountains. Rebecca Hunter suggests that Pacific kit homes may exist identified by framing components that "... are marked in grease pencil with a 4 digit number, probably the order number, and the names of the parts."

• Ready-Built Homes: also marketed as "Ready Made Buildings" often cited along with Sears and Wards, searches plow up besides many builders using this term, including Alfred G. Oxley, Elizabeth New Bailiwick of jersey, president of Sterling Service Homes, who was reported accept been jailed for fraud after he failed to provide the "ready built" homes sold to his clients for $36,000. each.

  "OXLEY NOW IN THE TOMBS.; Head of "Set up-Congenital" Homes Scheme Is Held in $25,000 Bail." New York Times, 25 July 1922. Nosotros're still looking for details )

• Robinson's Kit Homes: ofttimes cited along with Sears and Wards, we're still looking for details (Jan 2008)

  Robinson'southward Money-Saving Manufactory-Made Cutting-To-Fit Houses. C.H. Robinson Visitor, Providence, Rhode Island. 1914. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7C22 1914

• Sears Catalog Homes: Too referred to as "Sears Modern Homes". Details are

  at SEARS KIT HOUSES. Sears Roebuck is estimated to have sold 100,000 itemize homes in the U.S. between 1908 and 1940, with probably the heaviest individual sales years before 1929.

  Sears Roebuck's business model differed from some or all of the other kit home marketers past offer an accompanying dwelling house mortgage to their customers beginning in 1916.

  Thornton says there were 370 different home models; Hunter says there were 450 unlike house models. Sears sold building products before 1900, and sold kit homes from 1908 to 1940.

  • Sears Homart Home Kits: From 1940 to 1950 or 1951 Sears sold Homart pre-fabricated domicile kits in a more than limited distribution.
  • Sears Laurels-Bilt Homes: were distributed past Sears Catalog and represented a higher-quality construction.

    Framing spacing intervals were 14 3/8" instead of the standard 16" (or fifty-fifty 24" in some older non-kit homes), and interiors used a better grade of lumber to fabricate flooring and trim.

    These Sears abode kits provided pre-cut lumber to the necessary lengths and dimensions to frame the home, Sears' "Prepare-Cut arrangement".

  • Sears Standard-Bilt Kit Homes: were a more economic line of kit houses (see Honor-Bilt above) and were less insulated. "Simplex Exclusive" homes were a withal simpler domicile design sold by Sears.

• Sterling Kit Homes: Bay City Michigan. About 60 dissimilar domicile models were offered using the "Sterling Organization of Home Bulding". For possible identifying marks on Lewis Kit homes run into notes above at Aladdin; besides see Rebecca Hunter's information listed below.

  Sterling Kit homes were provided by the International Mill and Timber Company in Bay City Michigan between 1915 and 1971.

  Shown below, a Sterling Kit Abode, The Windsor, and another Sterling Kit Domicile, the San Carlos, a Craftsman Bungalow fashion habitation.

...

[Photos of pages from Sterling Kit Homes are bachelor on request from Inspectapedia and are as well found in other public forums online - Ed.]

• United Grain Growers Kit Houses: UGG kit homes: UGG provided postal service-order kit homes in Saskatchewan, Canada (Saskatoon) and possibly other locations between 1914 to 1926. included "... 6" shiplap siding and plaster on wood lath interior walls".

  The United Grain Growers' Grain Visitor (UGG) was formed in 1917 by the merger of the Grain Growers' Grain Visitor (UGGG) and the Alberta Farmers' Co-operative Lift Company. The UGG connected as a grain storage and distribution cooperative until 2001 when it merged with Agricore.

References for Identifying Kit and Catalog Homes from Various Manufacturers

• BOOKS on Sears and other Kit or Itemize Houses - reference books on Kit Homes online
• Aladdin 'Congenital in a Day' House Catalog, 1917 Dover Publications, 1995. ISBN: 048628591X, besides see http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/catdir.htm for Aladdin kit habitation catalogs in the Clarke Library
• Aladdin Visitor archives at the Clarke Library, University of Central Michigan - see http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/Aladdin.htm
• Aladdin House Catalog, in reprint form, is bachelor from Amazon.com
• Aladdin Houses are cataloged by the Arts & Crafts Society at http://64.66.180.31/archive/aladdin.shtml
• More information including a description of the Aladdin model Georgia No.2 Aladdin domicile congenital in Claremont NY is in this archive http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/Aladdin.htm
• America's Favorite Homes : Mail-Order Catalogues As a Guide to Popular Early 20th-Century Houses, Schweitzer, Robert and Davis, Michael, 1990, Detroit, Wayne State Academy Press, ISBN: 0814320066
• Edifice Technology Heritage Library , produced by the Clan for Preservation Engineering science, is a superb resources for old edifice researchers, owners, or restorers. website: https://archive.org/details/buildingtechnologyheritagelibrary

  This library offers large collection of books (over 8000 in July of 2016), catalogs and other documents that are provided free to the public in a multifariousness of electronic forms such as in PDF format or as .epub documents.

  The collection includes documents that are rarely plant in other libraries nor in other online collections for preservationists.
  Excerpt:
  
  The Building Engineering Heritage Library (BTHL) is primarily a collection of American and Canadian, pre-1964 architectural trade catalogs, house plan books and technical building guides. Trade catalogs are an important primary source to document by design and construction practices.

  These materials tin assistance in the preservation and conservation of older structures as well as other inquiry goals. ... The BTHL contains materials from various private and institutional collections. These materials are rarely available in most architectural and professional libraries.

  Notation: On the home page for each item, there is a section every bit the bottom called "Reviews" It will listing previous comments or ask "Be the first person to write a review." Please comment virtually items, as this helps the library and association better empathise their users.

  Special thanks to Mike Jackson, FAIA American architect and InspectApedia reader for suggesting this superb resource. Mr. Jackson can be contacted by email at arch419@aol.com

• Elgin Illinois Ornamental Physical Block in Residential Architecture from the Elgin Heritage Commission, Hunter, Rebecca, 2005. Available from Gail Borden Public Library Elgin IL.
• 117 House Designs of the Twenties, Gordon-Van Tine, Dover Publications, 1992. ISBN: 0486269590
• Bennett's Small House Catalogue, 1920 Reprint Edition, February 1994. Dover Publications. ISBN: 0486278093.
• Goldstein, Carolyn M. Practise it yourself: Home improvement in 20th-century America. Princeton Architectural Printing, 1998.
• Homes in a Box: Modern Homes from Sears Roebuck, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 1997. ISBN: 0764304321.
• Homes and Interiors of the 1920'southward, Morgan Woodwork Organization. Ottawa, Ontario: Lee Valley Tools Ltd., 1987. Reprint of Building With Assurance 1921
• Houses by Postal service, Katherine Cole Stevenson & H. Ward Jandl, Preservation Press, 1986, ISBN 0-89133-120-iv (available in reprint from Amazon.com) Use the firm type primal on page 39 to speed look-upward in this field guide to Sears Catalog pre-cut homes.
• Houses from Books, Reiff, Daniel D. University Park PA: Philadelphia Land University Press; 1990.
• Lichtman, Sarah A. "Do-It-Yourself Security: Safety, Gender, and the Home Fallout Shelter in Common cold War America." Journal of Design History 19, no. one (2006): 39-55.
• The Platonic Catalogue Firm: Mail-Order Architecture and Consumer Civilization, 1914-1930., Joselow, Evie T., PhD. Dissertation, 1998, Urban center Academy of New York
• Sears Houses: The Houses that Sears Congenital, Everything You lot Ever Wanted to Know Near Sears Itemize Homes, Rosemary Thornton, Gentle Beam Publications - http://www.gentlebeampublications.com/, 2004, ISBN 0-9715588-1-7 As well meet Rosemary Thornton's own website listed below
• Sears Houses: Finding the Houses that Sears Built, A Guide to the 60 Well-nigh Pop Designs, Rosemary Thornton, Gentle Axle Publications - http://www.gentlebeampublications.com/, 2004, ISBN 0-9715588-ii-five. Thornton's books are listed at Searshomes.org
• Sears Houses: In that location's no identify like a catalog, Sturdy Sears homes arrived by mail: many survive nearby, newspaper commodity, Poughkeepsie Journal, Section F p. 1-2, 7 January 1990
• Sears Houses: Across Sears: Mail Order Homes in Elgin Illinois from Aladdin, Lewis, Sterling, Harris Brothers, Gordon-Van Tine and Montgomery Ward, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission 2004. Available from the Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin IL.
• Sears Houses: Elgin Illinois Ornamental Physical Block in Residential Architecture, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission, 2005. Available from Gail Borden Public Library Elgin IL.
• Sears Houses: Elgin Sears House Research Project, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission 1999. Available from the Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin IL.
• Sears Houses: Putting Sears Homes on the Map: A compilation of testimonials published in Sears Modern Homes Catalogs from 1908-1940, Elgin IL, Hunter, Rebecca 2004, ISBN 0-9762096-0-8, 116 pp, $20 bachelor from Rebecca Hunter Press, 847 697-4551, FAX 847-697-455
• Sears Barns: Sears, Roebuck Volume of Barns Reprint of the 1919 Itemize, preface past Rebecca Hunter and Dale P Wolicki, 2004, ISBN 0-9762096-1-6, 84 pp, $twenty, available from Rebecca Hunter Press, 847 697-4551, FAX 847-697-4550
• Rosemary Thornton publisher and researcher of information about Sears Catalog Homes
• Sears Roebuck Archives includes the national Sears Domicile Registry at http://world wide web.searsarchives.com/homes
• "Sears Catalog Business firm Enthusiasts" a contact list at http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/enthusiasts.htm


• List of kit abode catalogs available at National Trust Library:
• Aladdin Homes. Number 29. The Aladdin Visitor, Bay City, Michigan. 1917. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
• Aladdin Homes. Number 32. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1920. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
• Aladdin Homes. Number 37. The Aladdin Visitor, Bay Urban center, Michigan. 1925. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
• Aladdin Homes. Number 44. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1931. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
• Aladdin Houses. Number18. North American Construction Company, Bay Urban center, Michigan. 1910. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N6
• Aladdin Houses. Number 26. Due north American Construction Visitor, Bay City, Michigan. 1915. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N6
• Log Cabins. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1935. NTL Stacks: TH4840.S43 1935
• Modern Homes. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1936. NTL Page TH4819.P7S42 1936
• Ane House or a Hundred. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1920. NTL Folio TH4819.P7S435 1920
• A Plan Volume of Harris Homes. Harris Brothers Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1918. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7H27 1918
• Gear up Built Buildings. Ready Built House Visitor, Portland, Oregon. 1915. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7R42 1915
• Robinson'due south Money-Saving Mill-Made Cut-To-Fit Houses. C.H. Robinson Company, Providence, Rhode Island. 1914. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7C22 1914
• Wardway Homes, Montgomery Ward, Chicago, Illinois. 1924. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7M66 1924

We recommend all three of these publications. Item #i is a nifty reference catalog of dwelling house designs, organized to help equally a field guide. Rosemary Thornton's 2 books contain additional specific details which yous will find instrumental in identifying Sears Itemize Homes.

Reader Comments & Q&A

@Ben Edwards,

Tin can't encounter much simply certainly at that place could be a kit firm. You lot will read in this article series the clues and details to expect forward to identify kit built homes.

See more of your photos that we remember is a word of this same firm, that you sent to us by private e-mail, found in the on page reader Q&A

at SEARS KIT HOME IDENTIFICATION

Nosotros may have a kit house, pic from the 30'south, abandoned for 35 years, have more pics if needed What do you think so far?

@Janet M YANDLE,

Sure,

See

SEARS KIT HOME IDENTIFICATION

https://inspectapedia.com/Design/Sears_Kit_House_Identification.php

Hi- We just purchased a small home in the Northern Neck of VA. A neighbor says information technology's a Sears firm. While I couldn't notice prove, I practice believe the business firm could possibly be a kit business firm. The county has it listed as being built in 1930. The front end porch was enclosed at some betoken. A bathroom(the only one) may take been added at a afterward date. I was hoping someone on hither could point me in the right direction!

@Em,

That was and remains a popular home design;

Have a look at the identification clues and suggestions of details for which to check found at

SEARS KIT Dwelling IDENTIFICATION

https://inspectapedia.com/Design/Sears_Kit_House_Identification.php

@inspectapedia.com.moderator, Thanks so much for the response. Practice you recognize this home at all? I've searched and searched for evidence of information technology being a kit home and can't discover whatever.

@Em,

As a complete Sears kit home 1908 is a adept starting point, but in fact the visitor was selling dwelling building materials and designs for years before.

See details at

SEARS KIT HOMES

https://inspectapedia.com/Blueprint/Sears_Kit_House_Identification.php

How-do-you-do! My dwelling house was congenital in 1907 and a previous owner claims information technology is a Sears kit home. Given information technology was built in 1907 and Sears didn't start selling kits until 1908, I have always doubted the story. Notwithstanding, nosotros just found an identical habitation in a nearby town, so I'm again curious whether my dwelling is indeed a kit abode. I'm in the Midwest. What other companies would have been operating here in 1907?

@Elaine Thielke Steinbach,

This note is from the page above

Sources of information for Bennett Kit homes include

Forgotten Buffalo Website, Ray H. Bennett Homes of North Tonawanda NY, photos of Ray H. Bennett homes, Web page: http://world wide web.forgottenbuffalo.com/forgottenbflofeatures/rayhbennetthome.html

Harris, Richard. "The talk of the town: kit manufacturers negotiate the building manufacture, 1905-1929." Journal of urban history 36, no. 6 (2010): 868-896.

North Tonawanda History Museum, Ray Bennett Lumber Co., 712 Oliver Street, N Tonawanda, NY 14120 U.s., at Niagara Falls, Website: https://www.niagarafallsusa.com/directory/n-tonawanda-history-museum/ The current museum website is non much assistance, difficult to observe, poor online presence, but this museum previously hosted photographs and historical information about the Ray Bennett Lumber Co.

This dwelling was a Ray H. Bennett pre-bilt home from pre-assembled parts.

I am looking for a Cape Cod style home built effectually 1937-1942 on Sweeney St. in North Tonawanda beyond from Majors park. My parents owned this home in 1943. I would like a picture of it. They bought it in 1943 for $4000.

@Angelica,

Could exist whatsoever of several kit manufacturers, or could even take been stick built. Y'all'd need to look for some of the clues that we give in the commodity serial above.

What blazon of kit dwelling house is this? This is in Washington, DC, built in 1926

@Michael D, That looks similar stencils I've seen on Aladdin kit homes and perchance some sears kits. But that wod-lath plaster base behind it may not exist from a kit -

It would exist helpful to know more about the house: what is the country and city of location of this business firm, when was it built, and what do its internal hardware and other kit firm clues (given above on this folio) look like?

We are renovating a forest frame business firm and it has stenciled descriptions as to what the boards are used for. Tin anyone identify the company that sold this firm, if information technology is a "kit home"?

OK thanks; We'll keep the give-and-take alive here.

Following up well-nigh the #46 stamped in the small brass circle in our 1920s rear exterior threshold:
It is not in relation to our firm number or street number. We are almost corner of 29th Avenue and crossroad 52nd Street.
This is baffling, and nosotros appreciate the effort to figure out what it is.

Thank y'all!

I tried to come across if we could find find anything about the utilize of brass number plaques on kit homes, but it'due south a particularly difficult search because millions of homes apply contumely numbers or number plaques to place the house number or street number; we're overwhelmed by those in any search result.

I tried seaching for "antiquarian or kit house with brass number for model ID or number plaque" - no cigar.

I likewise tried "antiquarian kit house model number by brass tag" -indeed there were some brass way or model identification tags used on antique thins: equipment, machines, motors in particular.

These Woodall oval brass tags came upwards in our search. The example below is copied from numbered contumely Woodall tags for sale on Etsy.com (2021/02/12) Nosotros don't know if these are actually house ID tags or key tags or something else.

That oval brass number placque with number 46 is non and never was the street number of this business firm, right?

Thanks. Our house is in Gulfport, Florida. I fastened a motion picture. Let me know what other info would be helpful. Thank you!
hulahula@tampabay.rr.com

Annette,

How interteresting; I have not encounter that item kit firm detail merely it's certainly possible that the 46 was an ID number; Knowing the land, city, and perhaps seeing a photo of the medallion you draw may help us do some research.

Our bungalow was congenital erstwhile between 1925 and 1927. In the rear entry door threshold, there is a weathered metallic circle about the size if a dime with the numer 46 in it. Does this type of medallion help to identify the firm, what is it?
Thanks.

Anon:

Thanks that's a pretty interesting question, but we don't have a listing of all of the locations in which kit homes were congenital around the world nor fifty-fifty just in Due north America. In the article above and in the other articles in the series nosotros do list named locations for cute dwelling house manufacturers just we have no reason to know that that is all of them.

I'll continue to watch for opportunities to add more than manufacturing sites. But you should sympathise that you could have a kid habitation constructed or that is assembled in Washington state that may accept been built and shipped from another state equally was often the case.

For instance the Tacoma Washington historical gild discusses kit homes built in your state.

Is in that location a list of locations were kit homes were congenital? Specifically, were whatever kit homes built in Washington country, and if and so, which manufacturers? Thanks!

Lamentable, no Cat.

But the commodity serial given here has lots of excellent references y'all might scan to compare with your business firm design, and nosotros include suggestions for other ways to identify the kit home model and brand.

Do you recognize this? Is it from a sears business firm kit from the 1920's? Which ane? Thanks

Dave

Thanks for the interesting box-beam photo and report of 4 ft. panelized kit construction. Indeed in N America as well as Europe there accept been several generations of console-construction methods that including aircraft a kit of pre-fab panels built in a factory and assembled on-site.

I describe box joist and related construction metods and include photos of panelized construction homes we've inspected

at PANELIZED CONSTRUCTION https://inspectapedia.com/Pattern/Panelized_Construction.php

If y'all have more photos of the house sporting this box beam (consistent with panel-constructed homes) it'd be wonderful to run across them posted over at that article - you tin add one image per comment only every bit many comments every bit you like.

Hi
I have stumbled on a number of kit homes over the years.

I contempo home from 1942 has a very curious construction.

4 human foot wide panels, built over superlative of "hollow box joists" they are made from 2x4'southward and one/iv" plywood. (Glue visible at joints).
This is in Albany NY.
Dave

Sarah

That's a wonderful projection, cataloging all known Bennett Kit homes in the U.S.

I've added all the details we take on information sources for Bennett homes. Beyond that you may want to attempt simple Google searching followed by reviewing each of those results. Some of those carry fruit, while some that I've pursued in the by, such as Pinterest postings, are fraught with inaccuracy and strange politics that mean those listings are unreliable.

I am trying to compile a listing of all known (and unknown) Bennett homes in the US. I was wondering near the online word re the 1926 Bennett home in Clarence, NY. I've found at least 4 on ane block in Clarence, forth with authenticating a Sears, and some other Bennett on Primary St in Clarence.

Can you point me in the correct management? Then far my list has overe 200 houses, but I have a lot more ot add together. Thanks and regards, S.

Not coding I've seen, Tumb but we'll keep the photograph here to invite reader comment.

I am wondering if anyone has data on how to find this home/cottage/garage built betwixt 1906 and 1925? It looks to me that is states X14-0-5 in the blue grease pen.

Thank you and then much!

Diane, please see the kit home identification methods suggested at

SEARS KIT Dwelling IDENTIFICATION https://inspectapedia.com/Design/Sears_Kit_House_Identification.php

You'll encounter that there are quite a few things 1 tin can examine.

I am unable to post a photo-I alive in CO, my dad is in CA-
I can only show the assessors page with address and date of home build and the assessors movie.
Please make a proposition and then that someone with knowledge on the dwelling house kits could help
Thanks and then much!
Diane

Sorry Diane, that link cannot be posted, but you are welcome to post 1 photo per comnent and to enquire questions or describe a problem with a building or its environment.

Diane said,

Please help with this firm. ...link blocked... My dad has described the house he lived in equally a child in Hicksville NY-information technology has two br, 1 bath, kitchen, LR-built effectually 1933-
I can't observe it on the Sears Roebuck Kit itemize-
Would appreciate so much what company made this kit and the indoor layout plan
Thanks so much
Diane

Marnette

Thanks for an interesting question.

I don't recollect that a lumber yard stamp necessarily rules out kit homes considering that accept manufacturer in fact may accept used lumber that had such stamps.

However it's not mutual in my experience.

I would rely on a collection of other clues to decide whether or not the building in question is a kit home.

Await for other stamps or markings or code numbers on lumber or on sheathing.

Also you'll see other clues in this article series, such equally hardware details.

If some of the trim boards are stamped with a local lumberyard'south stamp, does that and then dominion out being a kit home?

This house was built in 1947 and had metal bar joists and 2 and v/eight" studs

Prissy little house, DS.

Take a expect at SEARS KIT Home IDENTIFICATION https://inspectapedia.com/Design/Sears_Kit_House_Identification.php

where we give some tips on where to wait to identify a Sears kit habitation.

Let me know what yous find and don't hesitate to ask follow-up questions.

Address 31790 Peoria road, Albany Oregon.

Trying to place this 1946, 2+1 habitation. I was told that it's a Sears house, but they stopped selling in the 1930s. There are two bedrooms on the right side. Living room in the front left and kitchen in the back left corner. The bathroom is squeezed into the back middle.

I've got some of the books we cite simply frankly the volume of reader questions prevents united states of america from paging through all of them. You may practice all-time by looking through kit habitation catalogs that date the year before and the twelvemonth of construction of your domicile.

http://world wide web.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1920-Bennett/ which cites that "Bennett Homes are full-bodied in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, likewise equally into the upper Midwest."

Post more than photos of your home, perhaps a sketch of its flooring plan, and any photos yous can have the patience to have of key details such as stencil or other makrings on framing lumber or sheathing, hinges, hardware, etc (one photo per annotate) every bit that may help u.s.a. or other readers observe your home.

Cheers! I did - I went through all of them. The closest I can find are those ii Bennett models. I'yard trying to dig up other Bennett catalogs in the local libraries hither in Cleveland, but curious as to whether y'all may have access to non-digitized versions that might match my wee house.
Cheers!!

Rosie,

You might want to draw out the flooring programme of your home, then expect through some of the kit home catalogs listed in the commodity above.

Trying to figure out the model of my 1929 abode - it'southward similar to the Bennett Fulton and Harriet, but is definitely not those.

Specs: 6 room, 1 bathroom; 26x28 sf footprint.

Year: 1929 (according to act; Garage was built in 1930)

Location: Cleveland, OH

Non specifically only it is certainly possible. Will proceed your question posted hither and possibly another reader from your area can reply.

Do you lot know of any Aladdin homes in Gillespie Illinois?

Justin

You might want to await in the attic and basement for (and post photos of) any stamps or markings on framing lumber and sheathing such every bit crayon or pencil letters and numbers or painted stencilled letters or numbers.

Too sometimes closeups of window and door hardware tin can exist useful in identifying a kit dwelling house.

Thge play and layout are helpful but not sufficient, both because many kit homes copied already-popular designs and because they too may have copied one some other.

Nice house past the way.

Trying to identify the maker of our dwelling house. Built in 1904. We are thinking it is a Bennett Itemize kit home. If anyone can help us we would actually appreciate information technology.

Thanks for the note well-nigh a possible Wardware home, JM.

If you attach some photos (i per comment) peradventure we or other readers tin offer farther data.

IN add-on to a forepart photo of the unabridged domicile (other side photos welcome likewise), pictures of

- whatsoever lumber stampings or markings

- hardware details such every bit chiffonier and window latches, doorknobs, door latches

- a photograph of a sketch of the flooring programme

would exist nigh helpful

Look in the attic and basement at

- under-side of floor sheathing

- interior side of roof and wall sheathing (probably tongue and groove boards)

- sides of rafters and floor joists and studs

for stampings, markings, fifty-fifty crayon-marked numbers or messages

HI -- I believe -- through oral history -- that I have a Wardway home from 1911. The problem is I cannot find the house plans for it anywhere. I have looked at all the Wardway house plans and Sears plans and any other plans that I can detect on the internet. Nothing.

My home looks like one of the two story four squares, but it isn't because the outset floor isn't foursquare. The main flooring has two bedrooms, a parlor, a principal dining room, a kitchen and a large pantry.

The stair way is in the middle of the firm and is straight up with no turns. Upstairs at that place are four bed booms and a bath and a hallway that ends at a window that you tin put a twin bed under.

In that location are two dormers out of the roof line. I'll try to mail a photograph. Just, biy I'm stumped.

Janine

Aladdin, Sears, Wards, and other companies produced kit homes as you lot'll read in this article series. Because the kit home manufacturers copied popular house designs, you volition find that in that location are several possible sources and it's not ordinarily the case that I can come across a single design and ascribe it to a unmarried manufacturer.

However if you tin can photograph details such every bit lumber stamps and markings or ofttimes hardware, those can narrow downward the probable kit home producer. Take a look through the articles in this serial to encounter examples of those details.

Practice you know the blueprint or builder of these homes? In that location are hundreds of the exact style in the Pontiac Mi expanse. Give thanks you
Epitome LOST by older version of Clark Van Oyen's useful Comments code - now fixed. Please re-post the image if you tin can. Sorry. Modernistic.

Cheers for the question and squeamish photo, Cindy; I've flipped it correct-side upwards.

Indeed it could be a kit home; in this commodity series we discuss clues that tin assistance determine that question, such as finding number or parts name stampings on woods framing; if you observe such, allow us meet some sharp photos of the markings and we tin, maybe, comment further.
IMAGE LOST by older version of Clark Van Oyen's useful Comments code - now fixed. Please re-post the image if you tin can. Distressing. Mod.

Nosotros've been told that nosotros own a kit abode. Ive done a fair amount of enquiry simply take not found any definitive testify to ostend that information technology is. It was built in 1922 (but we've received a few unlike years) and looks a lot like The Sunlight in the Houses By Mail service book, simply has a 2nd story. I've added a pic of the House.
IMAGE LOST past older version of Clark Van Oyen's useful Comments code - at present fixed. Please re-post the image if you can. Sorry. Modern.

Question: Identify this Kit Domicile on Chatauqua Lake NY?

My wife and I bought a cottage on Chautauqua Lake here in NY state.

After performing some work on the domicile it started to become apparent that this cottage may be a kit dwelling house.

The walls and roof rafters all measure in at 4' OC. I removed some boards to run electrical and observed some pinkish wax numbering on the back side of the boards.

I practise know that this structure was moved across the lake from the Chautauqua Institute circa 1985

. I accept contacted them, forth with the Chautauqua Historical Order with no success.

There is also a marker on the back of the lumber from a mill in Washington state (I practise not have that name with me at the moment).

I have included some photos of the structure for your review. Whatsoever assistance y'all could provide is greatly appreciated.

As you can see there has been an addition to the structure. The original interior is made completely from cedar.

- Bearding by private e-mail 2019/05/28

Moderator reply:

Certainly the numbering is suggestive - I'd like to see photos of those marks, and of course as well it'd help to know the actual age of the home you can provide.

Depending on just what was washed to move the home, numbers could date from that effect too.

Reader follow-up:

I will effort to obtain a photograph of the numbers. I'll also get you a photo of the wood markings. Here in lies the issue.... nobody knows how old the construction is.

It was moved onto the property in 1985 from the Chautauqua Establish.

...

[Above] I was able to take some photos of the branding on the back of the tongue and groove exterior cedar boards.

I was able to locate some numbers and stamping on the back side of a 2x4. See beneath:

...

Moderator Answer:

We'll keep your photos here to invite comment from readers who may be familiar with these stamps or the home.

...

Go on reading at ALADDIN KIT HOUSES or select a topic from the closely-related manufactures below, or see the complete Article Alphabetize.

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• Age of a BUILDING, HOW to Decide for references on identifying and determining the age of buildings
• ALADDIN KIT HOUSES
• BRICK LINED WALL CAVITIES - determining the historic period of older homes by bricks in wall cavities.
• BUILD YOUR DREAM Dwelling 1950 guide to edifice a small-scale abode, from site selection through finish painting
• CELOTEX CemestO BOARD HOMES
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• KIT HOMES, Aladdin, Sears, Wards, Others
• PLANK HOUSES
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• LEAK DIAGNOSIS & CURE in LOG HOMES if yous are reading our log dwelling commodity serial
• SEARS KIT Dwelling house IDENTIFICATION

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