Colonial Place / Riverview
Historic Colonial Place-Riverview
Kit Homes
What is a kit home? In the early 1900s, many wanna-be homeowners purchased kit homes from mail order catalogs. Shipped by boxcar, each kit contained about 30,000 pieces of house. Framing members were numbered to facilitate construction. Blueprints were drawn with the novice homebuilder in mind, listing each numbered framing member and its precise placement. A 75-page instruction manual came with the kit.
Sears Roebuck promised that "a man of average abilities could assemble a Sears kit home in about 90 days." No detail was overlooked, as both manual and blueprints instructed homeowner as to the correct spacing of the 750 pounds of nails.
Compared to conventional construction, homeowners saved about 30% by building their own home from a kit. About 50% of the kit homes were built by the homeowner and the balance were professionally built. In 1908, Sears estimated that a contractor would charge $450 to build a Sears home.
These kits were made with the finest of materials, including cypress for all exterior components (window trim, clapboard, fascia and soffit) and first-growth, top-grade southern yellow pine for framing members. Kitchen and bath floors were solid maple (tongue and groove).
Sears offered more than 370 house designs, including bungalows, Colonial and Tudor Revivals, Foursquares, Cape Cods, Prairie style and more. Sears sold about 70,000 kit homes from 1908 - 1940. Increasingly complex house designs, the Great Depression and federally sponsored mortgage programs (FHA) were the three primary reasons that Sears closed their Modern Homes Department in 1940. The only way to find these homes today is by thorough architectural surveys because many years ago, Sears destroyed all the sales records (probably during a corporate housecleaning).
Colonial Place does NOT have any Sears Homes, but this brief history of Sears Homes is offered because it provides a good example of kit homes in general.
ALL photos are under copyright
Gordon-Van Tine Kit Homes in CPRV
Harris, McHenry and Baker Kit Homes in CPRV
3916 Gosnold (2007)
3916 Gosnold (2007) with early 1950s inset showing Eddie Barnes with his twin sister Laura Barnes Chappell seated on the steps in front of the house built by their grandfather in 1924
3916 Gosnold (1948)
3916 Gosnold Entry Hall / Similar Entry Hall on Book Cover
Rose Thornton is a resident of Colonial Place and busy restoring the historic home (pictured above) that she and her husband purchased in March of 2007. Her full time job (and favorite hobby!) is Sears Homes. She has traveled throughout the Midwest, researching, documenting and lecturing on Sears homes. In addition to her book “The Houses That Sears Built”, Rose has written more than a dozen articles on Sears homes. She has systematically memorized each of the 370 different designs of homes that Sears offered and she often does “Sears Homes” surveys for communities, to help them discover their Sears homes.
Her book has been featured in the Old House Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, Dallas Morning News, Historic Illinois and dozens of regional newspapers. Rose has appeared on WGN-TV, CBS Sunday Morning News and PBS’s new series, “History Detectives.”
Rose can be reached by email rosethornton@cox.net
© 2007 Rose Thornton
© 2007 Rose Thornton
© 2007 Rose Thornton
© 2007 Rose Thornton
