Gordon-Van Tine No. 502

234 S. Vail, Arlington Heights

No. 502 from the 1923 Gordon-Van Tine catalog.

This house in Arlington Heights appears to be a No. 502 from Gordon-Van Tine. 

The front door is closer to the left window, unlike what is depicted in the catalog illustration. However, the catalog illustration does not reflect the plans for the model, and all authenticated No. 502's have an off-center front door. 

Capture from Google Streetview that shows the same angle as the catalog illustration. Dormers have been added on two sides of the house. It is possible that this house is a No. 502, but interior photos would help us determine that if the house ever comes up for sale.

This is a typical five-room frame bungalow. Notice that the widths of the front bedroom and living room are not equal so the front door will be off-center.

According to the Arlington Heights Historical Society, this house was built about 1924. I'm not sure where they got that date, but the earliest year the house was listed in the telephone directory was 1927.

Either way, Gordon-Van Tine offered model No. 502 throughout the 1920's. In later years, they changed the name to the Sheldon.  

In the 1920's and 1930's, the house changed owners every few years. Then in 1938, Emil J. Hoggay and his family purchased the house, where they lived until 1943. Emil was one of the more colorful characters in Arlington Heights. Emil owned Turf Billiards at 1 N. Vail Ave (where Cortland's Garage is today) with his younger brother, Michael. 

Sheriffs and local police raided the pool hall several times over the years for back-room betting on horse races and other sports.  Emil Hoggay was arrested and convicted by Arlington Heights police in 1965 on charges of gambling and resisting arrest. In 1970, both brothers were arrested and charged with keeping a gambling house, gambling and aggravated battery. Emil, then age 66, hit the police officers with pool cues and kicked one of them in the groin. Man, if only cameras were around back then--I would love to see that old man going off.

In 1972 the Turf Tavern (as it was then called) closed for good and the building became Richard Nixon's campaign headquarters.

The House that Sears Built--in Paris

This blog has a large number of readers from France, so in this installment, we'll discuss the house that Sears built — in Paris.

In 1931, the U.S. government commissioned Sears Roebuck to construct a full-scale replica of Mount Vernon (President George Washington's Virginia residence) at the Exposition Coloniale Internationale in Paris. The Mount Vernon replica (and two adjacent buildings) would house the official exhibits of the United States.

Charles K. Bryant, an architect from Richmond, Virginia, was selected for the project. Bryant had designed a Mount Vernon replica for a 1915 exhibition and still had the blueprints. 

The government awarded the Home Construction Division of Sears the contract for construction after Sears said it could complete the buildings in a few short months and do it at cost (the final price tag was $75,495). The materials for Mount Vernon came from the Sears lumber mill in Port Newark, New Jersey, and within 12 days of signing the contract everything was on its way to Paris. The wood was numbered, just as with the traditional Sears kit houses.

Every detail of the historic Virginia mansion was faithfully reproduced.The house featured a portico, a balustrade, and a pediment with an oculus. The structure was flanked by two colonnades. Crowning the roof was an eight-sided wooden cupola. Inside, Sears craftsmen replicated the original brass and bronze hardware, mantelpieces, staircases, trim, and cabinetry. If Washington himself had visited, he might have felt right at home.

Postcard from the Exposition Coloniale Internationale in Paris.

Another postcard.

Back of the postcard.

Sears proudly advertised its role in constructing the Mount Vernon replica to garner interest in their kit homes. "I had no idea that Sears built such fine homes", trumpeted the ad copy.

A feature on the Mount Vernon reproduction from the 1931 Modern Homes catalog.

Beginning in 1932, Sears offered a house in its catalogs that was loosely based on Mount Vernon. The model was inexplicably named “The Jefferson”. Sears described it as “a true example of Southern Colonial architecture.” 

The Sears Jefferson had a five-bay portico and a balustrade.

I should also mention that in 1932 Sears constructed the same Mount Vernon reproduction in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. This house was taken down after the event.

After the Paris exhibition concluded, the building in France was purchased by Dr. Alexander Bruno, an American surgeon working in Paris. According to the Chicago Tribune, Dr. Bruno planned to reconstruct the house at his tuberculosis sanatorium in the French Alps. That plan never materialized. In 1936, the house was instead relocated to Vaucresson, a western suburb of Paris.

Dr. Alexander Bruno in 1918.

Since then, the Mount Vernon replica has served as a private residence. It is currently for sale for about $27 million USD.

Nearly a century after its debut, Sears’ Parisian Mount Vernon remains one of the company’s most unusual creations: a piece of Colonial America in the French countryside.

Sears Crescent in Des Plaines

I spotted this Sears Crescent just south of downtown Des Plaines and, as it turns out, it is an authenticated Sears home from 1928.

1670 Whitcomb, Des Plaines. 

The sidelights and front windows have been replaced, but the original medallion is still in its spot above the front door. 

The kitchen has been extended and new family room added. 

The front bedroom. 

The rear bedroom. 

A master suite has been added on the second floor, which originally was unfinished. 

A sensitive, huge rear addition that cannot be seen from the street. 

I believe the original owners were Gilbert W. Friese and his wife Louisa. They were newlyweds when they moved into the house. Gilbert was a building contractor.

UPDATE!

I exchanged emails with Diane Anderson who owned the house through most of the 1980's. She wrote:

"When we bought it the front of the house had the original windows and sidelights (they have been replaced in your photo), woodwork, glass doorknobs and hardware.  It was truly a gem and we always loved showing people the numbered rafters and joists in the basement.  It has an 9' English basement and not many old homes can boast that.

"We were told it was floated up the Des Plaines River by barge and then transported 2 blocks to the property. It was built in either 1928 or 1929. We took many steps to return the home to its original beauty including spending two years burning every inch of paint of the entire house and repainting it (white).  We also stripped the oak floors.  We found out later that the floors in the kitchen were not oak but maple.  I wonder if that was usual?  [Solid maple floors in the kitchen were very common in Sears houses. Ed.]  Before we moved we added a master suite to the unfinished second floor.

"When we first moved in the heat was provided by an old converted coal burning monster that was made of cast iron.  It had big round ducts running out of it and up to each room.  it was referred to as an octopus style.  The brand was Hercules. Shortly after [moving in] we started getting headaches and found out Old Hercules had several cracks which were leaking carbon monoxide.  We had it torn out and replaced it with a new furnace and modern ductwork."

The Hercules "octopus" furnace, from the 1930 catalog.

In the early 1980's, there were no reference books about Sears kit homes. Diane's father happened to work for Sears corporate and was able to use their archives to identify the house as a Crescent.

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.