Sears Home Kit

Complete Modern Home No. 115
Sears, Roebuck & Company ~ 1908 - 1940
Similar to so many homes right here
in my Indiana Neighborhood!

Last spring I included this model home advertisement from Sears on my Fortnightly post about old houses -- "Broken and Beautiful." I like it because it reminds me so much of the house where I lived as a student at Notre Dame from 1984 - 88. See the resemblance:

My house and car (Burnt Sienna Omni) in South Bend.
Another woman lived upstairs and used the front door.
My entrance was on the side.

Gerry & My Cat Jeoffry sitting on my front / side porch;
as you can see, I had a bad landlord
who never painted the house --
but I still loved living there!

Side View

The large front window (behind the tree) and the first, smaller side window around the corner were in the living room. Then comes a larger window & an extra door (a feature I see on many Indiana houses) that were in the study. Facing the street was my "front" door, into the dining room -- with a bumped out window seat there on the right.

When I came across this drawing for Sears Home Kit, Model #115, I felt it was surely the pattern for my grad school rental. I could see some clear connections, with a few alterations -- an extra living room on the first floor, with two additional doors and two additional windows along the side; a full second story on the front of the house, but no second story over the dining room.


I thought it would be fun to expand the original Sears drawing and pencil in the various modifications to make it look like my house:

1. Front door and front window reversed.

2. Three windows on second story front, instead of one.

3. An extra livingroom included in the length.

4. An extra window, picture window, and door included along the side.

5. A second door on the side porch (instead of the window).

5. No second story across the back.

Last week (scroll down to previous Quotidian post: Homes That We Love) I included this updated picture of the same house, taken twenty - five years later, after a striking new paint job and consolidation of the two units into a single - family dwelling. The new owners obviously take better care than my landlord ever did; but I liked it better painted white. Nor am I wild about the fence they put up, which obscures "my" part of the house and all of the interesting details along the south side -- another big window, two doors, porch with window seat, etc.

A close look from this angle shows the vintage (1910 approx)
detail on the front window (downstairs).

P.S.
For additional views, see my photo album:
Golden Dome