I thought we would do a spotlight on Sears Kit Homes every Tuesday. Sears Modern Homes catalog was first published in 1908. The 1913 volume featured 112 designs for homes for which homeowners could purchase a kit that was delivered with all the materials needed to construct the home. Later volumes offered up to 370 designs. Between 1908 and 1940, more than 70,000 of these Sears Kit Homes were built across America. Today we are doing a deep dive on The Puritan model. Please note, this is not a home currently for sale.

In 1926 homeowners could purchase the The Puritan Sears Kit Home with a Sun Room for $2,475, or without the Sun Room for $2,215. The kit for the six-or seven room Dutch Colonial included everything the builder needed:  lumber, lath, shingles, siding, millwork, doors, trim, kitchen and bathroom cupboards, ironing board built-in, windows, gutters, hardware, exterior paint and interior varnish.

 

All the homeowner needed to purchase beforehand was a lot at least 33 feet wide.

Bedrooms were on the small size by today’s standards, especially for the master.

 

The kitchen was usually the first room to be remodeled. That is why we rarely see original kitchens in today’s Sears Kit Homes.

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The Puritan in the Wild (Not For Sale)

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4114 Ingomar St, Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Dr. E.E. Thompson built The Puritan around 1925 on a corner lot at  Per the newspaper article below, the family still resided there at least until 1942.

 

This is the house as it looks today. Note how the vegetation has grown over the decades so that it is difficult to see the full front view of the house.

 

A large addition was built on one side, as seen above, and the open porch on the other side was enclosed.

 

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Eastwood Historic District in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Other examples of The Puritan can be found across the country, including one in the Eastwood Historic District in Cincinnati, Ohio. Like the Thompson’s house, this home, originally constructed by A. W. Fischer around 1925, was built with the rooms reversed from the floor plan pictured above.