Had my fill of Victorian...is anyone else attracted to the American Foursuare? (Ohio)

[K'ledgeBldr]

Now that I look at it again-
It's a model no. 52

[Ohiogirl81]

I like the first one better, as long as it comes with the car, the sheep, the barn and the windmill.

Are those extra?

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

I re-counted; if you don't count the attic window (and I don't think you do), or the one-story room off to the right, it's a tensquare!

This is what I think of when I think of a foursquare, and most of the ones I'm familiar with aren't this fancy:

That's a beauty! Does anyone know of a book with plans for kit homes? Such as Sears, Aladdin, etc. I look pour through that for hours!

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by sheena12

That's a beauty! Does anyone know of a book with plans for kit homes? Such as Sears, Aladdin, etc. I look pour through that for hours!

Read my 1st post in this thread- again

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

Now that I look at it again-
It's a model no. 52

I love how the ad says
". . .don't pay an architect $100 or $150 for plans to . . . ."

Someone on the Forum wrote a book about Sears Kit Houses. Very knowledgeable. Was that you K'ledgeBldr?

[K'ledgeBldr]

Here's a modern interpretation of the foursquare-

[K'ledgeBldr]

Originally Posted by South Jersey Styx

Was that you K'ledgeBldr?

No, not me-
As I stated in my first post-
"Rosemary Thorton is an avid Sears kit home historian. She has published at least one book on the subject and is a C-D member (RosemaryT)."
Here's her website-
http://www.searshomes.org/

[sheena12]

Were most or all foursquare homes kit built?

Also, at least in my region, these homes seem to have been built by the moderately wealthy - the upper middle class. Yet I hear some sources refer to them as "pedestrian" or "common" Which does not sound very upper middle class. I think that for the most part they were built for people who had a bit of money - but not a flamboyant amount. Such as small business owners, shop keepers, doctors, farmers, members of the clergy, and attorneys. In fact, I have noticed that quite a few were built as parsonages.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by sheena12

Were most or all foursquare homes kit built?

Also, at least in my region, these homes seem to have been built by the moderately wealthy - the upper middle class. Yet I hear some sources refer to them as "pedestrian" or "common" Which does not sound very upper middle class. I think that for the most part they were built for people who had a bit of money - but not a flamboyant amount. Such as small business owners, shop keepers, doctors, farmers, members of the clergy, and attorneys. In fact, I have noticed that quite a few were built as parsonages.

Interesting question. Since our Foursquare had been built and owned by the same family (2-3 generations lived here prior to us), we knew who built it. The owner was indeed, a small business owner -- owned a restaurant in town.

[Ohiogirl81]

Most of the foursquares I'm familiar with were built for people of very modest means -- factory workers, shop workers, etc.

The neighborhood that is now the University of Dayton student ghetto is full of 'em. The neighborhood was built between 1900 and 1930 for people who worked at NCR, and even has its own Wikipedia page: University of Dayton Ghetto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lot of those houses have been beat up in the past 40 years -- back in my day, private landlords didn't keep up the houses very well, and it wasn't unusual for a floor or a porch to collapse under the weight of dancing students! -- and the University slowly has bought most of the privately owned homes, and either is renovating them or replacing the worst of them.