A "Dandy" Sears Princeville in North Aurora

110 Oak St., North Aurora. Capture from Google Streetview.

 

The Sears Princeville, also known as the Sears No. 173.

I believe this to be a Sears Princeville in North Aurora. Technically, it would be a No. 173, since it was sold before Sears Roebuck named their houses, but we will refer to it as a Princeville for the sake of brevity and easier typing.

I know you are thinking right now: Girl, do you have eyes?! Let me just say that the previous owners believed this house to be a Princeville, and they may have some evidence to support that. Let's take a step back and take a look.

Obviously the biggest difference between the catalog illustration and the actual house is the second floor. The original dormers have been removed and the second floor expanded.  

The three piers on the front porch are still there, with original trim. One of the distinguishing features of the Princeville is the square bay window off of the stairwell.

You can see the squared bay window from the front. The house required a 35-foot wide lot, which meant few people in the city of Chicago could build one. Photo from Realtor site.

The Princeville came standard with cypress wood siding. Photo from Realtor site.

 

The Princeville was about 1,200 square feet. It had large living and dining rooms, and a kitchen with a separate walk-in pantry.

A fireplace was not standard with the Princeville. Photo from Realtor site.

There are triple windows facing the front. Photo from Realtor site.

The Princeville has a second set of triple windows in the living room. There once was a colonnade opening to the dining room, which came standard. Photo from Realtor site.

An office was added off the dining room where there once was a window seat. The decorative windows face the rear yard. Photo from Realtor site.

An original door leads to the backyard. Photo from Realtor site.

That is the door to the basement. Note the inset for the original chimney in the left corner as designated in the floor plan.

 

The walk-in pantry. This was a luxury feature in a small bungalow. Photo from Realtor site.

If you walk up the stairs, you come to the box window with the window seat. Photo from Realtor site.

The three bedrooms were small. When the house in North Aurora was expanded, the owners squared off the second floor. This allowed for the bedrooms to be more spacious.  

The door on the right is a hall closet and the other door leads to the front bedroom. Even with the expansion of the second story, the layout did not change here. Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

The house still has three bedrooms. The ceilings were originally eight feet, but now they have been raised in parts. Photo from Realtor site.

A Pittsburgh toilet is a lonely basement toilet installed in the middle of unfinished basements. I have never seen one in real life other than the one in my grandma's basement in Pittsburgh. Photo from Realtor site.

Dr. Cyrus H. Cutter bought the lot in May 1913. He appears to have paid cash for the house. Cutter was a physician. 

Mooseheart is a residential child care facility near North Aurora. 

Cyrus died in 1934, and his wife, Hattie, died in 1942. In 1946, the Cutter estate sold the house to James H. Voss, who became the mayor of North Aurora a few years later in 1955.