Neighboring Sears Vallonias in Des Plaines

Neighborhoods around downtown Des Plaines are blanketed with Sears homes. Unlike some other communities, Des Plaines did not experience a wave of teardowns in recent decades, which is good news for anyone interested in Sears houses.  Drive down certain streets and you’ll see one Sears home after another.

Besides the fact that fewer old homes were demolished, another reason for the large number of Sears homes in Des Plaines is the Blume brothers, local contractors who would quickly build Sears homes for their clients. Throughout the 1920s, the Sears Modern Homes catalogs featured letters by Elmer M. Blume about how easy it was to assemble pre-cut homes. Elmer and his brother, Oscar, built dozens of Sears homes in Des Plaines, as well as others in Libertyville, Park Ridge, and other suburbs.

Testimonial from the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

So yesterday on my afternoon drive I saw a perfect Sears Vallonia and when I looped around the block I saw yet another Vallonia.

622 Arlington, Des Plaines. Original railings... check. Original porch intact... check. Original porch columns... check.

Sears Vallonia.

500 Webford, Des Plaines.

The Vallonia was a popular Sears model, sold from 1921 to 1940, and it clearly never went out of style. No one knows if the Blume brothers built these particular homes. These homes were definitely built after 1922 because Sears changed the look of the dormer in that year.

The Vallonia was designed by the architectural firm Nimmons, Carr & Wright.

The 1928 Sears Modern Homes catalog even featured an interior tour of the Vallonia.

With so many well-preserved examples, Des Plaines would be a perfect place for a Sears home walking tour!

Des Plaines has more Sears homes to see!

• An adorable Sears Crescent
• A possible Sears Castleton built about 1920
• A grisly discovery behind a Sears Langston