Having lived in Norfolk for seven years now, I have scoured every street in this city, searching for mail-order kit homes. I’ve ridden around with several friends, studied maps, queried long-time residents and harangued my husband and I was quite certain that I’d seen every early 20th Century neighborhood that Norfolk had to offer.

Wednesday night, my buddy Milton and I were on our way to CERT class, and we swung by Church’s Fried Chicken to buy some of their world-famous honey biscuits. For reasons I can’t explain, an integral part of the CERT class is a pot-luck supper. (We’re  expected to bring a piquant and palatable platter of something wonderful to these weekly classes.)

As we pulled out onto Virginia Beach Blvd, I noticed a lovely Dutch Colonial staring back at me.

“Huh,” I thought to myself. “That Dutchie has an interior chimney,  just like the Martha Washington (Sears Home). Isn’t that something?”

And then I noticed that it had the curved porch roof, just like the Martha Washington.

And then I looked again and thought, “And it’s got those short windows centered on the second floor, just like the Martha Washington.”

Next, I looked at the small attic window and thought, “And it’s got that half-round window in the attic, just like the Martha Washington.”

As Milton drove down the road, I twisted my head around and saw that the Dutchie had the two distinctive bay windows on the side, just like the Martha Washington. Those two windows are an unusual architecture feature, and that was the clincher.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I told Milton. “I think that’s a Sears House.”

Now anyone who’s hung around me for more than 73 minutes knows that I’m a pretty big fan of Sears Homes, and my friends understand that a significant risk of riding around with Rose is that there will be many detours when we pass by early 20th Century neighborhoods.

Milton gladly obliged and gave me an opportunity to take a long, lingering look at this Dapper Dutchie.

That night at the CERT meeting, I kept thinking about the fact that one of the most spacious and fanciest Sears Homes ever offered was sitting right here in Norfolk, and after seven years of living in this city, I just now found it.

The next day, Milton picked me up around 11:00 am and we returned to the Sears Martha Washington so that I could take a multitude of photos. Sadly, as we drove through the adjoining neighborhoods, we saw that the nearby college (Norfolk State) had apparently swallowed up great gobs of surrounding bungalows.

Between that and some very aggressive redevelopment, it appears that hundreds of early 20th Century homes are now just a dusty memory at the local landfill.

Do the owners of this Martha Washington know what they have? Based on my research, more than 90% of the people living in these historically significant homes didn’t know what they had until I knocked on their door and told them.

What a find! What a treasure! And it’s right here in Norfolk!

So is there a Magnolia hiding somewhere nearby? 

To learn more about the kit homes in Norfolk, click here.

To learn how to identify marked lumber, click here.

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The Martha Washington was a grand and glorious house. According to this page from the 1921 catalog, it had seven modern rooms. I wonder how many "old-fashioned" rooms it had?

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Here's a Martha Washington that was featured in the back pages of the 1919 Sears Modern Homes catalog. This house was built in Washington, DC, and shows the house shortly after it was finished.

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This line drawing from the 1921 catalog shows those two bay windows on the side.

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This was described as a "snowy white kitchen de Lux." For its time, this really was a very modern kitchen. Notice the "good morning stairs" too the right, and the handy little stool under the sink. According to a 1928 Sears Modern Homes catalog, the "average woman spends 3/4ths of her day in the kitchen." So maybe that's why she got a hard metal stool to sit on at the sink?

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"Judge for yourself how attractive, bright and sanitary we have made this home for the housewife." And a "swinging seat"! I guess that's a desperate attempt to make kitchen work seem more recreational, and less like drudge work.

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An “exploded view” shows the home’s interior. That baby-grand piano looks mighty small!

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As you can see from the picture (1921), this was a fine home!

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Be still my quivering heart! And it's right on Virginia Beach Boulevard!

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A view from the side, showing off those bay windows.

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The PVC fish scales over the porch are a pity (and do a fine job of hiding the beautiful fan light), and the badly crimped aluminum trim on that porch roof doesn't look too good, and the wrought-iron is a disappointment, but (and this is a big but), at least it's still standing.

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The porch, in its pre-aluminum siding salesmen and pre-wrought-iron and pre-PVC state.

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A comparison of the Martha Washington in DC with the house in Norfolk!

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And here's a Martha Washington in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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To learn more about the Martha Washington, click here.

To learn more about biscuits, click here.

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As mentioned in my previous blog, Richard Warren Sears was my hero, and he really was a marketing genius.

Here’s my #1 favorite story that showcases his brilliance:

Knowing that many households would have both his catalog and the Montgomery Ward catalog, Sears purposefully designed his catalog a little shorter and narrower than the Ward catalog. He knew that when the housewife was tidying up the home, the Sears catalog, being smaller, would be stacked on top of the Wards catalog.

The book Sears Roebuck and Company: 100th Anniversary relates that a Sunday School pupil was asked,”Where did the Ten Commandments come from?” The child innocently replied, “From the Sears, Roebuck catalog.”

Local merchants and owners of general stores were up in arms at the low prices Sears offered in his catalog and the bold promises that buyers could save money by eliminating the middle man. Of course, the middle man that Sears wanted to eliminate was the owner of the general store! In more than a few towns, children were promised a free movie ticket for every Sears catalog they brought into the local store. The catalogs were then piled high and ceremoniously burned in a massive bonfire.

In 1896, the annual sales for the mail order firm of Sears and Roebuck were $1.2 million and by 1914 they hit $101 million. At its peak in 1915, the general merchandise catalog contained 100,000 items in 1200 pages and weighed four pounds.

During World War I, the Sears Roebuck catalog was the book most requested by American soldiers recovering in overseas hospitals. Julius Rosenwald sailed to France in the midst of the Great War (WWI) with four huge wooden crates, each filled with Sears catalogs, for distribution to the American boys lying in a hospital. (The Good Old Days; A History of American Morals and Manners as Seen Through the Sears Roebuck Catalogs.)

According to Sears, Roebuck, USA: The Great American Catalog Store and How It Grew a Sears customer wrote and asked to return several bottles of patent medicine shed purchased from Sears, explaining that the medicine had originally been intended for her husband and he’d since passed on. The clerk who received the inquiry responded by asking the woman if shed like to see a copy of Sears Tombstone Catalog.

The famous Chicago radio station, WLS, actually began as a promotional tool for Sears. In fact, WLS stands for Worlds Largest Store. The station signed on in 1924 with farm reports and weather information. Sears sold the radio station in the fall of 1928.

In the 1930s, Sears sold live baby chicks through their mail order catalogs. The chicks cost ten cents each and safe, live delivery was promised.

In November 1952, Sears announced it would sell the Allstate - a small car with a 100-inch wheelbase, capable of 35 mpg. It was an incredibly “basic” ride, and the first models lacked trunk lids and glove compartments. The little car with a four or six cylinder engine cost $1395 - $1796. Two years later, Sears stopped selling the cars, having sold about 1500. The reason: Sears was ill-prepared to handle the problem of trade-ins.

To see several beautiful photos of this 1950s Dream Machine, click here.

To see a video of the Henry J (the Sears Allstate), click here.

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For 76.99 pounds (British), you can have your own "Henry J" (Sears Allstate) auto. This is a miniature reproduction of the 1952 "Deluxe" Allstate, offered by minimodelshop.com.uk.

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To order your own Henry J, click here.

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WLS was originally started by Sears and Roebuck to use wholly as a promotional tool. WLS stands for "World's Largest Store." Shown here is the first edition of the WLS (Sears) employee newsletter.

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Sears had a massive lumber mill just outside of Cairo, Illinois. The street was named "Sears and Roebuck Road," but in later years, it was split into two dead-end streets by the highway. One side was named "Sears Road."

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And the other side was named "Roebuck Road."

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And Garmin never got the memo...

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To read more about the mill in Cairo, click here.

To read the prior blog about Richard Sears, click here.

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Thanks to Donna Bakke, we now have photos of a real live Sears Wabash. The house is in Wyoming, Ohio (near Cincinnati), and it’s had a few changes but not too many.

To read the previous article on the Sears Wabash, click here.

Sears Wabash, as seen in the 1920 catalog.

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And there are "Wabashes" in these towns, too.

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Study the window placement on this floor plan. Note there are only two columns on the front porch, whereas typically Sears Homes have groupings of three.

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The Wabash, close-up.

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This Wabash is in Wyoming, Ohio and it's a fine example. Those porch columns are pretty interesting. Looks like the traditional Sears column - but it's a double-decker. The Wabash shown here is the mirror image of the image in the catalog. (Photo is copyright 2012 Donna Bakke and may not be used or reproduced without written permission.)

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Close-up of the front porch. Notice, it has only two columns (where most Sears Homes with this configuration have three columns at each corner).

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What a match! (Photo is copyright 2012 Donna Bakke and may not be used or reproduced without written permission.)

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To read the previous blog on the Sears Wabash, click here.

To read the blog I  wrote one year ago, click here.

It must have been hard to write magniloquent, enchanting copy to accompany (and pitch) each of the 370 models that Sears offered in their Modern Homes catalog. And yet, some of these descriptions are pretty darn good - such as this one.

The Maywood two-story home bespeaks simplicity and worth. Designed after the finest in modern architecture, it makes an ideal home. Viewed from any angle its lovely proportion and balance is outstanding. Every line is expressive of quality, durability and good taste.

Now that’s good writing!

The Maywood was first offered in the late 1920s, and was a popular house for Sears. It had a good floorplan, and (unlike most Sears Homes) the rooms were all fairly spacious (by 1920s standards).

The Maywood was patterned after a popular housing style, so not every house that looks like a Maywood is a Maywood. Take a look at the pictures below to learn how to differentiate the real deal from the look-alikes.

The Maywood, as seen in the 1928 catalog.

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Unlike many Sears Homes, the Maywood had a good floor plan with spacious rooms.

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Upstairs, it had three good-size bedrooms.

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Maywood in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania. Photo is copyright 2012 Dale Patrick Wolicki and may not be used or reproduced without written permission.

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Maywood in Dayton, Ohio. Porch on left has been enclosed.

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Not surprisingly, Decatur, IL has several Sears Homes, including this Maywood.

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Ohio seems to be the mecca for Sears Homes. This one is in Dayton.

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This house is in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. At first glance, I thought it was the Maywood, and now I don't think so. The Maywood is 32' wide. This house might be a little bigger than that. Plus, this house has more space around the second-floor windows. It just looks like a BIGGER house that our Sears Maywood.

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A very nice match!

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To learn about Indiana’s $1 million Sears House, click here!

To learn more about Goodwall Sheet Plaster and its fireproof qualities, click here.

To make Rose’s day complete, leave a comment below! 

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There’s something about a Dutch Colonial that just makes me swoon, and the Martha Washington is a fine example of the Dutch Colonial design.

And it was spacious, too. Sans optional sunporch, the Martha Washington was about 1,800 square feet, with four good-sized bedrooms upstairs. Unlike so many early 20th Century homes, the Martha Washington also had an abundance of closet space.

As the text in the catalog page said, “The view to the visitor or passerby presents a vision of hospitality.”

An interesting bit of trivia: The Martha Washington has the same floor plan as the Sears Alhambra, with two small differences. The Martha Washington doesn’t have the box window on the front (as does the Alhambra) and the Alhambra is smaller. The Martha Washington is 28′ by 32′ and the Alhambra is 28′ by 28′.

To learn more about how to identify kit homes, click here.

To see more pictures of pretty kit homes, click here.

The Honor Bilt "Martha Washington," as seen in the 1921 catalog.

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Mr. Brewood was darn happy with his Sears House in DC! (1924 Sears catalog).

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As seen in the 1921 catalog.

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This Martha Washington in Lombard, IL has its original windows and STORM windows!

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How apropos! A Martha Washington in Virginia! (Bedford, to be precise.)

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Located in Oakwood, Ohio, this Martha Washington is in beautiful condition. The red door and green roof are nice complements. And the house *looks* happy, too! Photo is copyright 2012 Mark W. Risley and can not be used or reproduced without written permission.

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Every Martha should have a flag flying in front of it! This beauty is in Cincinnati Ohio.

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Martha meets Maggy! The two-story columns are reminiscent of the Sears Magnolia, but I seriously doubt that this poor Martha Washington (in Chicago area) was BUILT with these super-sized columns. And look - another flag!

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The Martha Washington (shown here) and the Alhambra (shown below) had the same floor plan, with two minor differences: The Alhambra had a box window on the front and the Martha Washington was four feet wider than the Alhambra.

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Alhambra's floor plan.

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And the kitchen was "the last word in convenience and sanitary comfort"!!

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The Martha Washington.

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To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.

See more pictures of fine-looking old houses by clicking here.

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One day I dropped by my brother’s house for a visit, and he told me that he needed some help with “a little problem” in the bathroom.

His house was a gorgeous 1930s Dutch Colonial, well-maintained and well-loved, and the crowning jewel of the old house was the vintage bathroom, complete with subway tile, black and white tile floor, beautiful wainscoting, original fixtures, etc.

As I gasped in horror at the “little problem,” he explained that he’d hired a plumber to put in a new manifold (tub and shower faucet assembly) and the plumber had charged him $500 to do this little “fix.”

I asked him where he found this “plumber” and he said, “Well, he’s not really a plumber actually; it’s just something he does on the side.”

No kidding.

I understand the guy threw in the duct tape for free.

Wow. Just wow.

To learn about Sears Homes, click here.

To buy Rose’s book, click here.

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Sears started selling kit homes in 1908. Montgomery Ward followed suit in 1909.

Sears started offering financing (mortgages) on their kit homes in 1917. Montgomery Ward reluctantly began offering mortgages in 1925.

In 1931, Montgomery Ward saw the writing on the wall and got out of the kit home business. Sears followed suit in 1934 (but re-entered the game in 1935, and closed down the kit home business once and for all in 1940).

Sears and Wards had a lot in common.

One night, I was going through the pages of my 1927 Wardway Homes catalog and found that one of Montgomery Ward’s modest little houses was named, “The Kenmore.”

Interesting name for a Montgomery Ward product!

Was the #2 mail-order giant poking a stick in the eye of the #1 mail-order giant?

What I do know is, Sears first used the brand name “Kenmore” in 1913 for one of their better-quality, portable sewing machines. It sold for $6.75 (including cabinet-grade wooden cover).

Six years later, the Kenmore name disappeared from the Sears catalogs and didn’t reappear until 1934.

Who knows why Ward’s chose the name Kenmore for one of their most-modest kit homes. However, it’s now an interesting little footnote in the history of American merchandising history and kit homes.

To learn more about Wardway Homes, click here.

To buy Rose’s book, click here.

The Montgomery Ward Kenmore (1927)

1910s Wardway catalog. Note the "possible changes" offered.

Above is the floor plan for the Wards "Kenmore." Pretty modest little house. That rear bedroom is a mere seven feet wide. Today, we'd call that a walk-in closet.

To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.

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I’m an architectural historian. I research old houses and I write books and I galavant around the country telling people how to restore their old homes. When people are trying to locate hard-to-find supplies for their vintage homes, they contact me. This is what I do, and it’s been a fun career.

One day I dropped by my brother’s house to visit him. He said he had “a little problem” in the bathroom that he needed help with. His house was a gorgeous 1930s Dutch Colonial, well-maintained and well-loved, and the crowning jewel of the old house was the vintage bathroom, complete with subway tile, black and white tile floor, beautiful wainscoting, original fixtures, etc.

As he and I walked upstairs and he explained that he’d hired a plumber to put in a new manifold (tub and shower faucet assembly) and the plumber had charged him $500 to do this little “fix.”

I asked him where he found this “plumber” and he said, “Well, he’s not really a plumber actually; it’s just something he does on the side.”

No kidding.

I understand the guy threw in the duct tape for free.

Wow. Just wow.

To learn about Sears Homes, click here.

To buy Rose’s book, click here.

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Judging by the traffic to this website, there’s a lot of interest in built-in breakfast nooks these days, and for good reason. They’re practical, useful, attractive, and make excellent use of a small space. As the 1933 Montgomery Ward hardware catalog promised, it’s like adding “a whole new room” to the house.

Okay, that may be a wee bit of a stretch, but the built-in breakfast nook - very popular in early 20th Century kit homes (such as those from Sears and Wards) - is a grand idea whose time has come. Again!

The McMansion has fallen from favor and as we baby boomers get older, a rising trend is more compact, easier-to-heat, easier-to-maintain smaller homes. And with smaller homes come smaller kitchens, and better use of space.

Take a look at some of the built-in breakfast nooks that were featured in a variety of magazines, including Ladies Home Journal (1911), Popular Science (1919), Sears Modern Homes catalogs (1920s) and Montgomery Ward catalogs (1920s and 30s).

To read more “Breakfast Nooks, part I” (and see more photos), click here.

To learn more about kit homes, click here.

Cover of the 1932 Montgomery Ward Building Material catalog, which featured breakfast nooks.

A close-up of the built-in breakfast nook featured on the cover of the hardware catalog.

cOn page 34 of the catalog, this "cozy corner dinette" was offered for $14.95. Not a bad deal. And it's made of clear western white pine and needed a small space of 5'6" by 3'8". Nice looking, too.

Another room? Well, maybe. Good-looking nookie, though.

This "cozy dinette" was featured in the Wardway/GVT Modern Homes catalog.

A little scant in terms of detail, but still cute. This little table first appeared in the February 1911 Ladies' Home Journal.

This simple breakfast table was offered with the Sears kit home, The Verona.

The "Pullman Breakfast Alcove" came with your Sears Ashmore. More modest than the others, it has simple benches with no seat backs.

The image below appeared in the June 1919 issue of Popular Mechanics and provided the ultimate space saver. By day, it was a cute little trestle table with matching benches. By night, it was an extra sleeping space for your overnight guests.

Easy to make and simple to use, this "convertible" breakfast table provided extra sleeping space for visitors.

As seen in the 1919 Popular Mechanics, this breakfast nook could be folded out into a bed. Overnight Guests - it's what's for dinner!

And the real deal - in the flesh - a 1930s breakfast nook as seen in the Sears Lynnhaven in southern Illinois.

Awesome rooster towels not included.

To learn more about Sears Homes, click here.

To learn more about Wardway Homes, click here.

To contact Rose, write thorntonrose@hotmail.com

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From time to time, people write me and say, “I thought this was a Sears House, but it’s all brick, so I know it can’t be a kit home.”

Actually…

Sears Homes could be ordered with cypress or cedar shakes or clapboards, with stucco, or with masonry, such as cement block (not common), brick (very common) or stone (also not common). If you wanted wood siding, it was shipped from the Sears Mills in Cairo, Illinois, Newark, New Jersey or Norwood, Ohio. If you opted for masonry (block, stone or brick), you purchased it locally, to save on freight charges. Masonry weighs a lot.

Inside rear cover of the 1940 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

Small graphic that appeared in the 1933 Sears Modern Homes catalog, below the page featuring the Sears Lewiston.

At a "small extra cost" you can add brick to your Sears Galewood.

Sears Auburn in Clifton Forge Virginia with half brick and half wood. Most Auburns were all wood, so this is an interesting alteration. Note, it is solid brick and not just brick veneer.

Close-up on the brick work of the Auburn in Clifton Forge.

To read more about Sears Homes, click here.

To read more about the Sears Homes in Clifton Forge, click here.

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