I love residential architecture and researching the history of old homes. One topic that’s piqued my interest over the years is mail-order “kit” homes. From homes purchased through the Sears Catalog to Lustron homes to present day Tumbleweed homes, I seem to be obsessed with kit homes.
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Recently I stumbled across some gorgeous photos of Sears and Montgomery Ward homes from the early 20th Century. Now, I can’t say for sure which home is from which manufacturer, and honestly just because a home “looks” similar to a mail-order home from one of these companies, doesn’t mean it truly is. The only way to tell is by finding an exposed beam and a product number that matches the original catalog’s kit home. Tricky, I know. But check out a few gorgeous homes below from Apartment Therapy:
Sears began selling their mail order homes in 1908 and Montgomery Ward (remember them?) started selling their homes one year later in 1909. I wrote a post about the Sears homes a couple of years ago, but today I’m focusing on the Montgomery Ward homes. Montgomery Ward mail-order homes, Wardway Homes, were quite popular, they sold approximately 25,000 homes in 23 years. Montgomery Ward contracted out its home orders through Gordon Van Tine a lumber mill owner who also offered his own mail-order kit homes. Montgomery Ward introduced a mortgage financing program in 1927 and their orders increased during a time of decreased residential building. Unfortunately, Montgomery Ward was going through tough economic times during the depression and in 1931 hired a man to help guide them out of it; he closed the Wardway Homes department in 1932.
If you live in the mid-west (where most of the kit homes were ordered and built) and think you might live in one, check out Sears Roebuck models here and Wayward homes here.
Could your home be a Wardway or Sears Roebuck mail-order home?
6 Comments
I always love seeing these houses. Once you see a few, you can start spotting them, and I’m sure the pros can even recognize the manufacturer and probably even the year, just like car enthusiasts can for their favorite rides.
Our house was built in 1999 so sadly, no chance of ours being one of those 🙂
@Money Beagle – Spotting certain designs of houses is definitely a hobby of mine. I love researching and finding out which architect built them. In your case, at least you know the builder and/or developer. Someday that information will be hard to look up. 😉
A well built home is still a well built home. It doesn’t matter if it is a kit or someone just built it. I have a particular fondness for Victorians, but they are so impractical because of maintenance.
Such eye candy. I wish there were more craftsman style homes in my area. I realized in my househunting that I hate most of the styles out there in my area. I don’t like capes, or ranches or raised ranches or most of the really odd shaped contemporaries and my area is littered with them.
These homes are adorable. I want one for my mom.
@First Gen American – I love the craftsmans as well. There is the bungalow company if you decide to build something instead of buying an existing home. The bungalow company builds beautiful craftsman homes. Good luck!
My house was built in the mid 90’s, so I’m out. I was wondering if they were more prevalent in some parts of the country than others…
I had never even heard of a mail order house . It’s a pretty neat window into history.