July 2, 2018

A Brand New Sears Lorain in Oregon

I am often asked whether anyone is building Sears houses today. The answer is yes! Developers often use the old Sears models as inspiration for new construction. 

I recently came across another example in Oregon--a Sears Lorain built in 2007.

540 NW Forest St., Hillsboro, OR. Photo from Realtor site. 

Sears Lorain from the 1930 Modern Homes catalog.


The Sears Lorain is a Colonial that is easily recognizable with its arched dormer and arched portico. 


In the 1930 Modern Homes catalog, the writers introduced the Lorain with an incomprehensible run-on sentence. If anyone can explain what this means in English, please leave a comment.




Ad for the Sears Lorain in the Sears 1930 merchandise catalog. $35 per month! I suspect the new Lorain in Oregon was slightly more expensive.



The new house does not follow the Lorain's floor plan. Photo from Realtor site.


Photo from Realtor site.


There's the arched window in the dormer. The light fixture mimics the ones produced in the 1930's. Photo from Realtor site.


The builder added some olde tyme design elements to the bathroom. Photo from Realtor site.








5 comments:

Unknown said...

Arrghhh! Tearing down interior walls for the oh-so-chic open floor plan! They couldn't respect the spirit of the design of the lovely older home. More's the pity!

Sharid57 said...

Not bad, all things considered. Oh, I mean the interior of the house! The post is very nice!! I would expect that anything newly built is going to have an "open floor plan" such as this one does. Kind of a bow to the old one though, with the posts between living and dining room, replacing the more traditional collumnade, with or without desks, bookcases, China cabinets, etc., that used to be used.

As for their "incomprehensible, run-on sentence," a little sprinkle of punctuation might help clean it up a bit.

"Fine sentiments do not cluster about elaborate business blocks, or expensive automobiles. But, like the ivy that twined about the portals of the old home, so cling the sentiments born of those relationships of "father, mother, brothers and sisters;" sentiments which can take root and mature in character, in that permanent place of abode -- the home."

In other words, you're not nearly as likely to feel the same sort of sentiment about the place where you work, no matter how financially secure it is, or how much money has been invested in it by you or anyone else; or about any car you own, no matter how fancy, or expensive it is, as you feel about your family. These kinds of feelings, no doubt, you will certainly develop about the home (assuredly, you will only ever own the one) you build as an adult, with your own family! How's that?

I think though, that no planbooks or kit book publisher EVER wrote more flowery and sentimental prose about their homes than did the early editions - pre-War - of Standard Homes Company! I remember opening up the first one I ever saw from the mid-1920's, and expecting to read a fairly detailed description of the house first presented, felt as though I had stumbled into a very "flowery garden of praise" for their own plans!

Sharid57 said...

Ooh - I forgot to mention how personally uninspiring I feel the kitchen is. Opinions, of course, will vary, I'm sure. It's all so very "greyge" with its lack of color, which certainly would not be the case in the original design.

However, the little bit of the bathroom that can be seen - only one? Surely not... - is a nice bit of nod to the originals, with the great looking tile floor design, and the rectangular basin, pedestal design sink.

Architectural Observer said...

That's amazing! I can see why they beefed up the arched dormer window somewhat, but I miss the keystone on the arch of the porch. People are looking to the past because the present state of architecture is so lacking.

Sears Homes of Chicagoland said...

Eric, I agree. No keystone makes the arch a little generic.

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