A Sears Dover That Was Stamped by its Owner’s Personality

1815 Elmwood Dr., Highland Park.  

Sears Dover.

Sears included this snippet in its catalog description of the Dover: 

"There is a certain warmth and 'hominess' about a wooden house—a readiness to receive the stamp of its owner’s personality and an ability to adapt itself to its environment."

This Sears Dover in Highland Park has definitely been "stamped" by its owners. A large addition was constructed behind the original house. The original square footage of the Dover was about 1,300 square feet and the addition is over 1,700 square feet. The good news: the owners hired a skilled architect and the addition is completely hidden from the front elevation.

You would never guess there was a 1,700 square foot addition back there.  

With that addition, almost every room on the first floor of the original house was repurposed.

Here is the original Dover floor plan as shown in the Sears Modern Homes catalog. Remember that the house in Highland Park has a reversed floor plan.

This is the living room, as shown on the original floor plan. The front door is to the right of the fireplace.  

Here's the dining room, which is the first floor bedroom on the original floor plan. Obviously the floor plan has been opened up and the closets removed. You can see the kitchen and family room, which are part of the new addition.  

 

The room currently used as a library was the original dining room.  

The home office was originally the kitchen.  

The new family room is part of the addition.

Even with the large addition, there's still room on the lot for a pool.  

The Dover was constructed around 1928-1929. Swedish immigrants David and Ellen Carlson were the original owners. David was a firefighter.

Undated photo of Ellen.

David and Ellen's daughter, Dorothy, married a man named Ernest A. Belmont. In 1950, when Ellen died, Ernest and Dorothy became the owners of the house. Ernest was a banker. The Belmonts moved to Champaign around 1956.



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