Re: Catalog home from Sears - 1908 to 1942

 > MummyChunk wrote:
 > From the 1916 Sears Home Catalog. They shipped the entire house to
you by railroad car. Sears was like Ikea before Ikea. Friends and
family would come from all around to help the owner build it.
 >
 > From 1908 to 1942, Sears sold more than 70,000 of these houses in
North America, by the company's count.
 >
 > Sears Modern Homes offered more than 370 designs in a wide range of
architectural styles and sizes over the line's 34-year history. Most
included the latest comforts and conveniences available to house
buyers in the early part of the twentieth century, such as central
heating, indoor plumbing, telephone, and electricity.
 >
 > Primarily shipped via railroad boxcars, these kits included most of
the materials needed to build a house. Once delivered, many of these
houses were assembled by the new homeowner, relatives, friends and
neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of
farming families.
 >
 > Sears discontinued its Modern Homes catalog after 1940, though
sales through local sales offices continued into 1942. Years later,
the sales records related to home sales were destroyed during a
corporate house cleaning. As only a small percentage of these homes
were documented when built, finding these houses today often requires
detailed research to properly identify them.

$4,080 Is All You
Need to Build This Elegant
Twelve = Room
$6,000.00 Residence

MODERN HOME No. 132
Be sure to note how conveniently
the rooms are
arranged in this fine city residence.
Economically
heated.
 
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