The Oldest Sears House in Chicago... Gone

Sears Homes of Chicagoland reader George Kelly just sent me some sad news. A Sears Model No. 135 in Norwood Park was just hit by the wrecking ball. This house was built in 1910, and was, to date, the oldest Sears house located in the city of Chicago. (Sears started selling house kits in 1908, but few were sold in the early years.) Chicago failed to landmark and protect the house.

The Norwood Park Historical Society must be reeling over this one. This house passed a home inspection as recently as 2004.

These people purchased a house that was more than 100 years old, knew its history and back story, and went forward with the demolition.

The Sears houses continue to come down in the Chicago area. In memoriam.

6954 Hobart Avenue, Chicago.

No. 135 from the 1913 Sears Modern Homes catalog.
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The remnants as of September 2013. Photo courtesy of George Kelly.

Sears Elsmore

7021 N. Osceola, Chicago.

Sears Elsmore, from the 1923 Modern Homes catalog.

The county says this Sears Elsmore was built in 1925. The original owners may have been Ralph "Gus" Johnson, his wife Katherine, and son Walker.

This house has some telltale signs that point to it being a Sears house. First, it has stick-design eaves brackets.

Second, it has the distinctive pillars that are typically found with Sears homes.

The architect of the Elsmore is Ernest Braucher, who designed hundreds of houses in Chicago during the 1920's.

A Controversial House in Arlington Heights

Tear downs in Arlington Heights continue at a rapid pace this summer. The wrecking ball will soon be destroying a house on West Park Street on a double lot that is currently for sale. This simple ranch has an amazing back story and was surrounded by controversy.

315 W. Park, Arlington Heights

315 W. Park is not a Sears house, but was a six-room factory-built house erected on July 14, 1950. That's right... it was put up in one day. The house was purchased from Mobilhome Corporation of America.

About Mobilhomes
Mobilhome Corporation of America was started in 1946. Mobilhomes were built intact at the factory and shipped via three-wheeled trailer to their destination. 

The selling prices included full basement, decorating, permits, utility hookups, sidewalks, and rough grading. The cost would be about 10% less than erecting a conventionally built house on-site. 

Headquartered in Bakersfield, California, Mobilhome had a franchise in Franklin Park (awarded to the Chicago Steel Structures company). Selling and fabrication were done locally.

The Franklin Park franchise hired only union carpenters. Subcontractors (also union labor) were hired to handle the plumbing, electrical and heating unit installations. 

The factory in which the house at 315 W. Park was built. Because the factory was completely inside, houses could be built all year long--even in Chicago. 

The floor joist and the flooring would be assembled first. The base would then move on rollers to stations where the walls would go up, the roof was nailed on, and a finished house emerged at the other end. Because the house moved on an assembly line during construction, the founder called them "Mobilhomes".  

Sears Homes of Barrington

Sears Homes of Chicagoland reader Wende Dau was kind enough to get snapshots of some Sears homes in Barrington.

135 N. Hager, Barrington. This is an authenticated Sears house--George M. Wagner got a mortgage from Sears for $4300 in October 1926. Photo courtesy of Wende Dau.

 

Sears Crescent from the 1922 catalog.

136 N. Hager, Barrington. The original owner was Martin C. Jensen. He got a mortgage in 1927 from Sears for $3900. Photo courtesy of Wende Dau. 

Sears Dundee.

 

148 N. Hager, Barrington. The house was built by July 1925 and was owned by the John Griesheimer family. This is an authentic Sears Conway;the Griesheimers got a mortgage from Sears. Photo courtesy of Wende Dau. 

Sears Conway.

533 S. Summit, Barrington. Photo courtesy of Wende Dau.

Sears Crescent.

A Sears House Mystery in Barrington
The early Sears catalogs featured a testimonial from Alverson & Groff of Barrington. Frank Alverson and Edward Groff owned a meat market on Main Street in downtown Barrington.

Sears Modern Home No. 133 (later called the Springfield) was featured in the 1913 catalog along with a testimonial from  Alverson & Groff who built two of these models in Barrington.

The matching Sears No. 133 models in Barrington. This photo comes from a 1912 booklet of testimonials. Scan courtesy of Chicagology.

 
No. 133 was offered from 1908 to 1918, so it must have been a popular house. All we know is that the houses in Barrington were built sometime from 1908-1911. I searched the downtown area using Google Maps and could not find the houses. Maybe one or both are still standing... does anyone know where they are?