How Old is My House? A Greater Chicagoland Home Inspection Primer Pt 13, St Charles, IL

Determining the Age of your Home:  Popular Home Styles

Another method to dating your home is to determine when the popular styles were constructed.  One the style is determined, typically it is possible to find similar homes in the area that may have construction dates recorded with the township.  In the next few blogs, I will develop a historical timeline and other information associated with specific details of each style of home.

Sears Built Homes 1908-1940

In 1908 Sears Roebuck and Company had the largest catalog of  mail order items available.  The mail order catalog supplied everything a person would need, including clothing, appliances, and even cars.  Even more outrageous was Sears’ most expensive item…Pre-manufactured HOMES!  By 1918, for $1172.00 “The Carlin”, a house “for better class workers” could be yours. 

Note:  The Carlin was named after Carlinville, Il.  The first "community" of Sears homes built, specifically for Standard Oil mineworkers.

An excerpt from the catalogs states:

"At the above price we will furnish all the material to build this five-room house, consisting of lumber, lath, roofing, mill work, flooring, porch ceiling, siding, finishing lumber, building paper, eaves trough, down spout, sash weights, hardware and painting material. We guarantee enough material to build this house. Price does not include cement, brick or plaster.”

 Another excerpt from the catalog:

“…from the porch, a glazed door leads into the living room, which has an open stairway to the second floor. A cased opening leads to the dining room and a swinging door into the kitchen. From the kitchen a stairway leads to the basement. There is a side door leading to the kitchen from the outside, so that it may be entered without passing through the other rooms.”

The Carlin Home was a simply built home which main opened into a stairway that leads to two bedrooms…both with closets.  Other notable interior features include:

• ·         Doors which were five cross-paneled with matching trim and flooring in yellow pine 
• ·         Windows were also in pine; however Sears made them from clear California White Pine.
• ·         7 foot ceilings in basement for recreation room expansion
• ·         9 foot main floor ceilings
• ·         8 ¼ foot second floor sleeping area ceilings
• ·         Concrete block foundation
• ·         Yellow pine structure with cypress siding painted customer choice of color 

As a $68 upgrade, the homeowner could have sheetrock installed rather than plaster and lathe.  Imagine what plaster and lathe would cost today compared to drywall.

Additionally, The Sears home did not include plumbing or heating in the initial cost, but could be added with the kit if desired for an extra cost.

The Kane and Du Page counties of Illinois boast many of these gems today.  While there are examples of all 447 floor plans throughout the area, many Sears built homes, including complete neighborhoods, were built next to railways.   Considering the ease of drop off of a large amount of building materials, many builders opted for a central location close to trains to build.  A fun train trip towards Chicago from the outlying suburbs still showcase such an amazing piece of history.

Chronology of Sears Homes

1895–1900
Building supplies are sold through Sears, Roebuck and Company general catalog 1906

Sears considered closing its unprofitable building supplies department

Frank W. Kushel (formerly manager of the china department) took over the building supplies department and realizes supplies can be shipped directly from the factory, thus saving storage costs

1908
First specialty catalog issued for houses, Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans, featuring 22 styles ranging in price from $650–2,500

1909
Mansfield, LA, lumber mill purchased

First bill of materials sold for complete Modern Home

1910
Home designers added gas and electric light fixtures

1911
Cairo, IL, lumber mill opens

First mortgage loan issued (typically 5–15 years at 6% interest)

1912
Norwood, OH, millwork plant purchased

1913
Mortgages transferred to credit committee

Mortgages later discontinued

1916
Mortgages revived

Ready-made production began

The popular “Winona” introduced; featured in catalogs through 1940

First applied roofing office opened in Dayton, OH

1917–21
No-money-down financing offered

1918
Standard Oil Company purchased 192 houses for its mineworkers in Carlinville, IL (approximately $1 million)

1919
First Modern Homes sales office opened in Akron, OH

Modern Homes catalog featured the Standard Oil housing community

1920
Philadelphia plant became the East Coast base

Sears averaged nearly 125 units shipped per month

1921
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton sales offices opened

1922
Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington sales offices opened

Honor Bilt homes feature deluxe kitchens, with white-tile sink and drain boards and white, enameled cupboards

1924
Columbus, OH, sales office opened

1925
Detroit sales office opened; Philadelphia became East branch of Modern Homes

Newark, NJ, lumber mill began

1926
Cairo, IL, plant ships 324 units in one month (May)

Honor Bilt homes featuring “Air-Sealed-Wall construction,” which enclosed every room with a “sealed air space” to increase insulation

1929
Sears began supervising the construction of homes

Sears shipping an average of 250 units per month just from Cairo, IL

Nearly 49,000 units sold to this point

Program’s high point of sales reached ($12,050,000); nearly half, however, are tied up in mortgage loans as the stock market crashes

1930
Sears had 350 different sales people working in 48 sales offices

Home specialty catalog proclaims Sears the “World’s Largest Home Builders”

1933
Mortgage financing discontinued

Construction supervision abandoned, except in greater New York City

Modern Homes catalog featured models of Mount Vernon and New York City’s Federal Hall.

1934
Annual Report announced the Modern Homes department was discontinued

All mortgage accounts were liquidated ($11 million)

Steel-framed, air-conditioned Modern Home exhibit featured at the Century of Progress World’s Fair

1935
Sears reopened the house department

Offered only houses, no financing or construction.

Houses were prefabricated by General Houses, Incorporated (Chicago)

1936
Sales reached $2 million

1937
Sales reached $3.5 million

Last appearance of department in the general catalog.

1938
Sales reached $2.75 million

1940
Cairo, IL, millwork plant sold to the employees who used their profit-sharing money to make the purchase

Last catalog issued (Book of Modern Homes). Sears ends Modern Homes program, having sold more than 100,000 units, not including cabins, cottages, garages, outhouses, and farm buildings