Do You Think Your House is a Mail-Order Home?
Identifying Kit Houses Can Be a Tricky Proposition
Sep 22, 2009
Mail-order, or kit houses, are a uniquely American institution, sold through catalogues, with those manufactured by Sears, Roebuck & Co. being the most famous. They come in many different shapes and sizes with bungalows being one of the most popular choices. Older suburbs of many American cities are full of them as well as many small- to mid-sized working class towns and some rural areas.
“You will find them anywhere there is a rail line running through because that’s how the parts were delivered,” said Rebecca Hunter in a September 2009 interview. Hunter, an authority on kit houses, has published several books on the subject.
In addition to rail, the supplies for kit houses were also delivered by boat in some rural areas.
Kit House Identification is Sometimes Tricky
Determining whether you own a kit home can be a tricky proposition. It may look like one on the outside, but further research may show that the home may have been built from an architectural design by an independent contractor. Conversely, homeowners may think they have a kit home but are confused by architectural details that re not present in an original or reproduced catalogue. A third scenario sometimes exists whereby homeowners know they have a kit home but can’t determine which manufacturer fabricated the parts.
Sound confusing? It can be. The reason behind such puzzlement lies in the fact that these homes were not distinctive architectural designs but copies of the most popular houses of the times. House designs were standardized to reduce waste material. Homeowners were encouraged to customize their houses by adding fireplaces, porches, window boxes, built-in cabinetry, and by selecting paint colors and finishes. Heating, plumbing, and electrical systems were available at additional cost.
“The mail-order companies got into this because they knew it was a good way to sell their merchandise,” Hunter said. “The thinking was, if they bought the plans for a house, they would buy other material, too.”
A Short History of Mail-Order HousesThe first kit homes were manufactured in Bay City, MI. Hunter indicated that the initial offering was a boat house in 1915. A number of manufacturers eventually emerged from that area, including Aladdin, Lewis-Liberty, and Sterling. Because they came from the same locale and borrowed off one another, their models are virtually indistinguishable from one another.
Sears, Roebuck & Co. is by far the most well-known manufacturer. From 1908 to 1915, the company only sold plans for houses, but after buying a mill began marketing pre-cut homes in 1916. According to Hunter's website, Sears marketed more than 450 different house models via mail-order from 1908 through 1939. The company also sold 60,000-70,000 kit homes from 1908 to 1940.
Other popular mail-order manufacturers included Montgomery Ward, Gordon-Van Tine, and Harris Brothers. These homes were popular primarily in the Midwest. Pacific Homes sold kits primarily west of the Rocky Mountains while little is known about Bennett Homes, which operated out of North Tonawanda, NY.
The popularity of kit homes declined after World War II when developers began manufacturing tract home on large plots of lands, thu finding another way to keep down the price of constructing homes. This led to the demise of kit homes. Sears stopped selling them in 1951, while Harris Brothers lasted until 1960.
How to Identify a Mail-Order House
Finding a rendering and a description of features in an original or reprinted catalogue is a start, but not a failsafe in determining whether or not you own a kit home. As previously noted, the designs sold were the most popular ones of the day. Not only that, mail-order houses borrowed designs from each other, and in some cases, even updated names of the same designs—all for marketing purposes, of course.
“Montgomery Ward was one of the companies that subcontracted their work,” Hunter said. “Most of their homes were shipped out of a Gordon-Van Tine warehouse in Iowa, using the same designs, but under a different name and a different price.
“Gordon Van-Tine was the most exasperating. First they had model numbers, then they gave their houses names beginning in 1929, then in the 1930, they updated the names, so you could have as many as six names for the same house.”
One of the most telling factors that determine whether or not your home is a kit house is finding a number written on a piece of wood. The manner in which the pieces are numbered is also a clue as to which company manufactured the pre-cut pieces because each had their own distinct way of doing so. Consult Hunter's website to see how the different manufacturers numbered these piece. Yet, people sometimes come to Hunter thinking they have a kit house because they have wood with a number on it. The key is, it has to be structural wood, not from an area around something like a window joint.
Through research, Hunter has found a number of different ways to authenticate a kit house beyond searching for numbered lumber and blueprints. One of the ways is to look through old mortgage records. Sears and Montgomery Ward financed a lot of the homes they sold. Gordon-Van Tine did too, but only in the area around Davenport, IA, while Aladdin offered financing in the 1940s. You also need to know the trustees they worked through in order to accomplish the financing.
If think your home is a kit home, educate yourself as much as possible. Look for telltale signs, and when the issue gets confused by customizations or additions that altered the original structure, consult experts to determine the viability.
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