The Sears Kimberly--the Skywater's Big Sis

In 1927, Sears Roebuck introduced two new models that looked very similar: The Kimberly and the Skywater. 

The Sears Kimberly, from the 1930 Modern Homes catalog. It was sold from 1927 to 1931. The little window in the front is in a bedroom closet.

The Sears Skywater. It was sold from 1927 to 1938.

The sticker price of the Kimberly was double or triple the price of the Skywater, depending on the year.

Why the difference?

The Skywater was classified as a mere summer cottage, while the Kimberly was of top "Honor-Bilt" quality.

The Skywater was a smaller house, despite the resemblance to the Kimberly on the exterior. It didn't have a full bathroom or a basement.

The Kimberly floor plan.

The Skywater floor plan. All you get is a toilet.

Some of the construction specifications for Honor Bilt homes like the Kimberly. Honor Bilt homes were the finest quality sold by Sears. Joists, studs, and rafters were to be spaced 14 3/8 inches apart. 

Some of the construction specifications for the summer cottages like the Skywater.

The Kimberly did not sell well nationally and only a few have been identified. 

1031 Logan, Elgin. The front entryway has been enclosed, and the little window in the closet has disappeared. The Kimberly in Elgin has a reversed floor plan. Photo from Realtor site.

The house layout today reflects the original floorplan. On the left side is a bathroom sandwiched between two bedrooms. There is a large addition on the rear that accommodates a new kitchen. Photo from Realtor site.

Undated photo of the Kimberly. The entrance was already enclosed back then. Photo from Elginbungalows.com.

The enclosed side porch. Photo from Realtor site.

In the Kimberly, the front door opens directly into the living room (just like with the Skywater). The arched window now looks out onto the enclosed porch. Photo from Realtor site.

There is a dining room next to the living room, when originally it was kitchen. The kitchen is now in the rear of the house in a new addition. Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

There is a new galley kitchen in a large rear addition. Photo from Realtor site.

This is the front bedroom and the front-facing closet that abuts the front door. Photo from Realtor site.

The attic is ready for another bedroom. Photo from Realtor site.

Robert  F. Spears received financing from Sears Roebuck in November 1928. He was a watchmaker for the Elgin Watch Company. In 1954 he moved to Arizona.

According to researcher Rebecca Hunter, the owner retains all the original paperwork from Sears Roebuck.

A Cinderella Story

In the years after WWII, many consumers were tired of the boring tract homes going up all over the country. Tens of thousands of ranches were built, and the suburban sprawl seemed endless.

In 1953, designer Jean Vandruff had the idea for affordable ranch houses that looked like the cottages depicted in fairy tales. He named his creations Cinderella Homes. 

9070 Lubec St., Downey, CA. This is the first Cinderella house that Vandruff designed. Photo from Realtor site.

The houses included such stylistic features as steep gables, upturned eaves, shake roofs, scalloped fascia, diamond-shaped window panes, decorative shutters, and other "gingerbread" touches.

Vandruff and his brother rolled out a development of 168 Cinderella homes in West Anaheim in 1955, and other developments in southern California soon followed. When the first model homes opened, there was so much customer demand that the builders started showings at 4 a.m. 

One of the thirteen original Cinderella models.

The Cinderella homes were a massive hit with the public. Vandruff's house designs were licensed to other builders, who in turn built them elsewhere in California and also in places as far away as Texas and Oklahoma.

Another Cinderella model, from the Cinderella Homes sales brochure.

There is a gorgeous book about Vandruff and his houses called The Cinderella Homes of Jean Vandruff  by Chris Lukather, if you are looking for more information.

As someone who finds houses, I wondered... are there storybook ranches in the Chicago area? The Vandruff brothers did not have any developments here. However, other architects in the 1950's and 1960's created similar designs in order to capitalize on the Cinderella craze. 

One day, I stumbled across the Brickman Manor subdivision in Mount Prospect.

This development was constructed around 1960-1961. 

There were initially six models available for purchase in Brickman Manor. One of the houses was the "Broadleaf" ranch.

The Broadleaf was three bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Doesn't look Cinderella-y.

The architect of the houses in the Brickman Manor subdivision was A.J. Del Bianco who specialized in budget ranch houses. Del Bianco wanted to give customers options and also wanted the houses to look different. So, with each model, there were three elevations from which customers could choose.

An alternate elevation for the Broadleaf was a fairytale look. 

1214 N. Crabtree Lane, Mount Prospect. The windows have been replaced, but the decorative bargeboard remains. 

Another Broadleaf at 1210 N. Crabtree Lane, Mount Prospect.

Floor plan for the Broadleaf.

Later the company sold a bigger, more expensive storybook ranch with four bedrooms and two baths called the Westleigh. I didn't see one of these in the neighborhood, but I may have missed it.

Pure Research

I was driving through Aurora and saw this adorable Tudor-style service station. What was it originally and when was it built?

260 S. Lake St., Aurora. 

According to the city of Aurora's website,  the structure was originally a Pure Oil gas station. 

Pure Oil gas stations in this style were built across the country from 1927-1946, and there were many in the Chicago area besides this one in Aurora. And much like Sears homes, Pure Oil stations are still standing today, just waiting to be discovered!

This is a Pure Oil station in Charleston, WV soon after opening. This photo captures many of the original details, and gives you an idea what the stations looked like after construction. The rustic English style design was copyrighted by the company. The exterior walls were rubbled stone. The roof was blue clay tile, which was the same blue as the Pure Oil logo. Gutters were made of copper.

401 St. Charles Rd., Maywood. 

516 4th St., Wilmette.

 

950 River Dr., Glenview. This station appears to have the original blue tile roof, which made it easy for customers to identify it as a Pure Oil station. The flower box is rotting, but hanging on.

2786 IL-387, Zion. This station was built in 1937 and is a coffee shop today.

502 Lincoln Highway, Geneva. This station is a bank today, and the bays are now ATM lanes.

If you look closely, you can see the Pure sign inside, as well as two old gas pumps.

This was what the customer waiting rooms looked like. The photo is of a now-demolished Pure Oil station in downtown Evanston. Looks a lot nicer than my local Jiffy Lube!

The architect of the Pure Oil English cottages was Carl August Petersen. The Pure Oil executives believed that the stations' pleasing appearance would draw motorists, and, as an added benefit, the attractive cottages could blend into residential neighborhoods. 

"It was the finest station ever built, setting the style for those that followed," said Petersen in a 1979 article in the Orlando Sentinel. Petersen died in 1982.