The House that Sears Built--in Paris

This blog has a large number of readers from France. So in this installment, we'll discuss the house that Sears built--in Paris.

In 1931, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was awarded a contract by the United States government to create a full-scale replica of Mount Vernon (President George Washington's Virginia residence) at the Exposition Coloniale Internationale in Paris. The Mount Vernon replica (and two adjacent buildings) would house the official exhibits of the United States.

The government selected Charles K. Bryant from Richmond, VA as the architect, because he had designed a replica of Mount Vernon for an exhibition in 1915 and still had the blueprints. 

The government awarded the Home Construction Division of Sears the contract for construction after Sears said it could complete the buildings in a few short months and agreed to build them at cost (ultimately $75,495). The materials for Mount Vernon came from the Sears lumber mill in Port Newark, NJ, and within 12 days of signing the contract they were on their way to Paris. The wood was numbered, just as with the traditional Sears kit houses.

Every detail of the historic Virginia mansion was reproduced.The house featured a portico, a balustrade, and a pediment with an oculus. The structure was flanked by two colonnades. On the roof was an eight-sided wooden cupola. Inside, Sears copied all brass and bronze hardware, mantelpieces, staircases, trim, and cabinets.

Sears publicized the company’s role in constructing the Mount Vernon replica to garner interest in their kit homes. "I had no idea that Sears built such fine homes", trumpeted the ad copy.

A feature on the Mount Vernon reproduction from the 1931 Modern Homes catalog.

Beginning in 1932, Sears offered a house in its catalogs that was loosely based on Mount Vernon. The model was inexplicably named “The Jefferson”. Sears described it as “a true example of Southern Colonial architecture.” 

The Sears Jefferson had a five-bay portico and a balustrade.

I should also mention that in 1932 Sears constructed the same Mount Vernon reproduction in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. This house was taken down after the event.

After the exhibition concluded, the building in France was purchased by Dr. Alexander Bruno, an American surgeon working in Paris. According the Chicago Tribune, Dr. Bruno planned to reconstruct the house at his tuberculosis sanatorium in the French Alps. That never came to pass, and, in 1936, the Paris Mount Vernon was relocated to a western suburb--Vaucresson.

Dr. Alexander Bruno in 1918.

The building has served as a private residence to this day. This house is currently for sale for about $27 million USD.

Sears Crescent in Des Plaines

I spotted this Sears Crescent just south of downtown Des Plaines and, as it turns out, it is an authenticated Sears home from 1928.

1670 Whitcomb, Des Plaines. Photo from Realtor site.

The sidelights and front windows have been replaced, but the original medallion is still in its spot above the front door. Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

The kitchen has been extended and new family room added. Photo from Realtor site.

The front bedroom. Photo from Realtor site.

The rear bedroom. Photo from Realtor site.

A master suite has been added on the second floor, which originally was unfinished. Photo from Realtor site.

A sensitive, huge rear addition that cannot be seen from the street. Photo from Realtor site.

I believe the original owners were Gilbert W. Friese and his wife Louisa. They were newlyweds when they moved into the house. Gilbert was a building contractor.

UPDATE!

I exchanged emails with Diane Anderson who owned the house through most of the 1980's. She wrote:

"When we bought it the front of the house had the original windows and sidelights (they have been replaced in your photo), woodwork, glass doorknobs and hardware.  It was truly a gem and we always loved showing people the numbered rafters and joists in the basement.  It has an 9' English basement and not many old homes can boast that.

"We were told it was floated up the Des Plaines River by barge and then transported 2 blocks to the property. It was built in either 1928 or 1929. We took many steps to return the home to its original beauty including spending two years burning every inch of paint of the entire house and repainting it (white).  We also stripped the oak floors.  We found out later that the floors in the kitchen were not oak but maple.  I wonder if that was usual?  [Solid maple floors in the kitchen were very common in Sears houses. Ed.]  Before we moved we added a master suite to the unfinished second floor.

"When we first moved in the heat was provided by an old converted coal burning monster that was made of cast iron.  It had big round ducts running out of it and up to each room.  it was referred to as an octopus style.  The brand was Hercules. Shortly after [moving in] we started getting headaches and found out Old Hercules had several cracks which were leaking carbon monoxide.  We had it torn out and replaced it with a new furnace and modern ductwork."

The Hercules "octopus" furnace, from the 1930 catalog.

In the early 1980's, there were no reference books about Sears kit homes. Diane's father happened to work for Sears corporate and was able to use their archives to identify the house as a Crescent.

Origins of the Sears Magnolia

One of the more scholarly books about mail-order house catalogs is Houses from Books, published in 2000. In it, author Daniel D. Reiff analyzes how architectural publications and house catalogs influenced residential architecture styles.

The Sears Magnolia, a house in the Georgian Revival style, was featured in the Sears Modern Homes catalog from 1918 to 1923. According to the catalog copy, "Many will recognize a close resemblance in the Magnolia to the famous residence at Cambridge, Mass., where the poet [Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow composed his immortal works."

Sears Magnolia

Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built in 1759. This house was George Washington's headquarters for 10 months in the Revolutionary War, and noted poet Henry Wadsworth Longellow's house for nearly fifty years. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

"Close resemblance"? Not really.

Reiff posits that the Magnolia's design may have been more influenced by the Auguste L. Langellier house in Watseka, Illinois, built in 1903.

719 S. Fourth St. Watseka, Illinois. Auguste Langellier was a dairy farmer who clearly had some bucks. Photo courtesy of the Iroquois County Genealogy Society. 

Reiff may be onto something here. In the early years, Sears Roebuck occasionally used local area houses as models for their kit houses.

That said, Georgian Revival was a popular architectural movement in the late 1800's and early 1900's. There could have been many inspirations for the Magnolia in the architectural journals and the house plan books.
 

A Sears Magnolia at 424 19th St NW, Canton, OH. This is an authenticated Sears Magnolia, built in 1923. The original owners took out a mortgage from Sears Roebuck for $9,588.71. The photo was taken in the early 1980's, meaning the house was already 60 years old! Photo courtesy of the Ohio Historical Society.