Delightful collection of Sears kit homes in Annapolis (sales, townhouses)

[RosemaryT]

I love Sears Homes. I think about them, study them, write about them, and when I'm feeling blue, I like to look at pictures of them.

Based on my research, about 90% of the people living in these historically significant houses didn't realize what they had until I knocked on their door and told them.

And - when I did my survey of Annapolis, I'll bet money that I missed more than a few of the kit homes in that town. It was a fairly quick drive through.

If you know of any Sears Homes in the area, send me a photo.

Finding Sears Homes is like looking for hidden treasure. It's a lot of fun, and the discoveries are always a thrill.

To learn more about Sears Homes, click here or here.

In short, these were 12,000 piece kits, ordered right out of the pages of the Sears catalog. They were shipped by boxcar and came with a 75-page instruction book and a promise that a "man of average abilities" could have the house completed in 90 days.

Enjoy the photos.

























Aren't they wonderful and delightful?

Sears offered 370 designs of their kit homes, and about 70,000 were sold, in all 48 states. When I decided that Sears Homes would be my raison d'être, I purposefully memorized all 370 designs, so now I can drive the streets and find them.

Unfortunately, during a post-ww2 housecleaning at Sears headquarters, all sales records were destroyed, so they only way to find these houses today is literally one by one.

Enjoy!

Rose

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

These are great, thanks for posting!

[BellaElla]

Wow that's neat. Thanks for sharing.

[RamblingMan]

Rosemary T,

Thanks for a great post!

When were most of those Sears homes built? I bet they still have a lot of life in them even now. I wonder how many of today's stapled together townhouses and McMansions will be standing in 70 or 100 years.