Authenticating a Sears Hazelton

On a recent trip to Norwood Park, I spotted what I thought might be a Sears Hazelton.

5822 N. West Circle, Chicago. Photo courtesy of George Kelly.

Sears Hazelton

The houses have many similarities, but there was one notable difference. On the house in Norwood Park, the front door is on the far right of the house, and it appears to lead into a vestibule of some sort based on the tiny window. The Hazelton has a center entry into a parlor.

Front door in the wrong location. Pretty leaded glass! Photo courtesy of George Kelly.

  
I ruled out the house as a Hazelton.

A few weeks later a man named George Kelly posted on Facebook that he thought he might own a Sears house. And his house was the purported Hazelton in Norwood Park.

Kelly and others on Facebook pieced together various pieces of evidence needed to authenticate the house as being a Sears Hazelton (although it was heavily customized, with a different interior layout). Sears Homes goddess Rebecca Hunter believes that you need at least five pieces of evidence to authenticate a kit house. We have five.

1. The house was built in summer of 1916. This corresponds to a year when the Sears Hazelton was sold.

2. The architect of the house was Ernest Braucher. Braucher was a notable architect of Chicago bungalows, and he also designed some plans for Sears homes, such as the Sears Avalon.

3. The house's exterior dimensions precisely match those of the Sears Hazelton.

4. The millwork on the front porch matches balusters sold in the 1915 Sears Millwork catalog.

The porch millwork. Photo courtesy of George Kelly.

5. Kelly found a shipping label on a piece of lumber.

The shipping label. The return address is 925 Homan Avenue in Chicago, which was the Sears, Roebuck and Co. headquarters.  Photo courtesy of George Kelly.
 

The original owners of the Hazelton in 1916 were Soren E. Nielsen and his wife Katrina. As you can see in the shipping label, the building materials were shipped from Sears to him, and he was to be notified at his home at 2824 W. Diversey when they arrived at the Norwood Park train station. Soren worked as a grocer.

In 1918, Katrina at age 61 became ill and they moved out of the house.  Soren rented the house to optician Patrick Joyce and his family, and they had moved in by September 1918. Katrina died in November of that year.

From 1918 to 1920, the Hazelton was rented to the Joyces. In 1921, Soren sold the house on West Circle Ave. to Bertram Anderson and his new bride, Agnes. 

Bertram Anderson. Photo courtesy of Carrie Anderson.

Agnes Anderson. Photo courtesy of Carrie Anderson.

Bertram and Agnes had been married for just over a year. They referred to the Hazelton as the "honeymoon cottage", according to their granddaughter, Carrie Anderson. Bertram's father, William B. Anderson, owned a nearby onion farm, and Agnes's family lived on land where Resurrection Medical Center is today. So it's likely they bought the house to be close to the family homesteads.

Bertram Anderson outside the Hazelton. Photo courtesy of Carrie Anderson.

Sadly, the honeymoon ended in 1926 when Bertram died of an illness. Agnes was pregnant with twins at the time. In November 1926 she sold the Hazelton to Walter Wolf, a florist.

George Kelly's parents purchased the house in 1963 and it has stayed in the family ever since.

Photo from the early 1970's courtesy of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency.

The front parlor. Photo courtesy of George Kelly.
 

The dining room with the unique bay window. Photo courtesy of George Kelly.
 

The city of Chicago has identified this Hazelton as "historically significant in the context of the surrounding community". 

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.

The Architects of Sears Homes

No one knows who the architects were for many of the Sears models. I've been compiling a list of the architects and draftsmen I've been able to identify. I will update this list as I uncover more names.  

If you think your house is a Sears house and the building permit has one of these names listed as architect, you might be onto something. However, many permits would list "Sears Roebuck" or "SR" as the architect. 

Blueprints of Sears houses are scarce. And many Sears blueprints list the architect and draftsmen initials, rather than their full names. 

Architects and Draftsmen of Sears Homes

• Alexander H. Bacci 
• William Arthur Bennett 
• L. Cosby Bernard
• David S. Betcone
• George Beihl
• Ernest Braucher
• Z.N.B.
• A.J. Caron
• Howard L. Cheney
• S. Merrill Clement, Jr.
• Leslie L. Deglow
• Randolph Evans
• Harford Fields
• Albert L. Flegel
• M. G.
• John W. Green
• R.S.G.  (Philadelphia area)
• W.G.
• G.B. H.
• H.F.H. 
• H.W.
• Ralph H. Heth
• Andrew F. Hughes
• S.K.
• Norman Kandl
• George Fred Keck (Sears custom home)
• C.J.L.
• Clarence W. Lampe
• Bernard T. Lourim
• R.L.
• D.M. (poss. David Mahaffey?)
• William F. McCaughey
• McMurray & Schmidlin (NJ area)
• Frederick Mertz 
• R.N. 
• George C. Nimmons 
• J.A. Parks
• Jens C. Petersen
• Spencer W. Phelps (Washington D.C. area)
• Quinn & Christensen
• Saville? Sarille?
• G.S.
• H.S.
• Ray Simms
• Joseph Earl Stith
• R.H.T.
• John Van Bergen
• Harry M. Veix
• W.N.L.
• Lewis E Warner
• White & Christie
• Henry Lawrence Wilson
• F.Z. 

The Sears Avalon in Old Norwood Park

Between the First World War and the Great Depression, more than 80,000 bungalows were built in Chicago. Finding a Sears home in the city is like finding a needle in a haystack.

However, there is a beautifully preserved Sears Avalon in Old Norwood Park. 

6721 W. Hurlbut, Chicago.

The Sears Avalon, a classic Craftsman bungalow.

The Avalon has short, square porch columns that sit on masonry piers. 

Naturally, there is a swing on the inviting front porch.

The Avalon has three bedrooms and is about 1,350 square feet.

The front door leads directly into the cozy living room.

The formal dining room is adjacent to the living room and is in the front of the house.

The kitchen has been remodeled. The beams are not original to the house.

The family room is part of a rear addition.

 

The first floor has two bedrooms and an office. This is the largest of the bedrooms.

The attic has been converted to a ensuite with a whirlpool bath. 

This Sears Avalon was constructed in the summer of 1925 on an oversized 50×150 lot. It cost $6,000 to build. The original owner (and builder) was Joseph Alsdorf.  Alsdorf turned around and listed the house for sale in September 1925 for $14,500.

The Sears Avalon was designed by architect Ernest N. Braucher, who created some of Sears’ most recognizable bungalow models.

More Sears Homes in Norwood Park

Norwood Park has an unusually rich collection of Sears kit houses, and here is a sampling:

• Sears Modern Home No. 229 — A well‑preserved example of one of Sears’ early designs.
• Sears Modern Home No. 135 — A very early modern home, offering a glimpse into Sears’ pre‑bungalow era.
• A Phoenix Rises in Norwood Park — A testimonial Sears house, designed by White & Christie.
• Authenticating the Sears Hazelton — A deep dive into confirming a Hazelton model through architectural and documentary evidence.
• The Sears Alhambra — A striking Mission‑style design and one of the most recognizable models in the Sears line.

Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs in this post (unless otherwise noted) are from real estate aggregate Redfin.com and are used in this post for the purposes of education, consistent with 17 USC §107.