As I did some research on a prevalent older house design in my city, the American Four Square, I also stumbled across the fact it was one of Sear's most popular house designs in their mail-order catalog.
I find it fascinating you could buy a whole house through a catalog. As a child, I remember the Sears catalog. 4lbs and 1400 pages of consumerism!! Sears stopped publishing the catalog in 1993 as most people could drive to a local Sears location and the cost of printing and delivering the catalog was huge.
The Mail Order Home
I knew that Sears sold homes through a catalog in the early 20th century. And, I always associated bungalows with the catalog homes.
I did a little more digging.
Sears sold catalog homes between 1908-1940. It was in response to a failing building material division. Some executives decided to bundle the materials into complete home-building kits. In that time period, Sears sold some 75,000 plus homes through their Modern Homes Catalog.
Complete kits were available for under $1,000. They would be shipped by rail to your nearest location for pick up. The house kits had all of the materials that you needed to build the home with each piece numbered and a complete set of plans.
Sears advertised the kits promising someone with little skill could build a home themselves. Though many opted to pay a carpenter to build the home.
Sears was not the only mail-order home you can get at that time. Actually, Alladin Homes started the whole catalog home business and Montgomery Ward was another big player in the mail order home.
What Happened to Catalog Homes?
Many of the catalog homes disappeared due to materials being redirected to the war effort building up to World War II. Not due to lack of interest.
Will we be able to buy a home through Amazon soon? Well, right now you can buy a complete shipping container home through Amazon.
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