Community of Sears Homes
Editor's note: Rosemary Thornton is one of the country's leadingexperts on Sears catalog homes. Here are excerpts of her new book, "The Houses That Sears Built: Everything You Ever Wanted to KnowAbout Sears Catalogue Homes," published in 2002 by Gentle BeamPublications, P. O. Box 1392, Alton, IL 62002.
By Rosemary Thornton
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Skilled labor and lumber needed to build homes were in short supply inpost-World War I years. But Sears, Roebuck and Company was ready and waitingwith kits, available by catalog and containing everything needed to build ahouse.
The housing shortage in 1918 was sosevere that analysts estimated that 1 to 2 million homes were neededimmediately. Soldiers returning from WWI, as well as a steady stream of immigrantsthrough Ellis Island fueled the demand for modestly priced houses. Sears had been courtingbusiness from this wave of foreigners for more than a decade. Its 1905 generalmerchandise catalog offered: "Write your order in any language. We have translators to read andwrite in all languages."
The company's Modern Homes were hot sellers in the 1920s. Pre-cut lumberin the house kits made skilled carpentry unnecessary and solved the problem of lumber shortages. The Sears Modern Homescatalogs of theearly 1920s were the largest the company published. They offered 90 differenthouse designs, as well as plans for garages, outhouses and chicken coops.
The Sears catalog homes truly were "Modern Homes," with centralizedheating systems, electric lights and indoor plumbing. The salutary effects ofliving in a modern home were extolled throughout the pages on the 1920scatalogs.
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The company began offering mortgage loans in 1911. Easy paymentplans and lax loan qualifications made home-buying attainable by the masses. A 1924Sears mortgage application, like the one at right, asked a few simple questions about the house andbuilding lot, but only asked one financial question: "What is yourvocation?"
The Modern Homes department was never a big money maker for Sears however,and by 1932, its financial health was slidingdownhill. Profit margins had grown thinner through the years and the situationworsened as the country struggled through the Great Depression. The 1932 Sears,Roebuck and Company annual report disclosed that the Modern Homes department wasoperatingat a loss, with sales dropping 40% in one year. For the next few years, therewould be glimmers of hope for recovery, but the losses of 1932 marked the beginning of theend for the catalog home sales.
Historical accounts of the rise and fall of the Sears catalog homes are oftencontradictory. In January 1932, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sears would build its100,000th house during the year. One hundred thousand homes made for good press, but Sears' own numbers make mesuspect that total had been "puffed" a bit. A small paragraph onpage four of the 1930 Honor-Bilt Modern Homes catalogue stated that Sears had nowsold more than 48,000 homes. (In the 1929 catalogue, that number was44,200.)
A small column in the January 22, 1931 Chicago Tribune stated that in 1930,there had been a 53% drop in home construction (housing starts) nationwide.Catalogues and Counters: A History of Sears Roebuck and Company(Boris Emmet & John Jeuck) states that sales of Sears Homes also dropped,from their peak of $12 million in 1929 - to $8 million in 1931, $6 millionin 1932 and $3.6 million in 1933.
The Wall Street Journal article that reported this 100,000 number cited Searsas their source. With this precipitous drop in sales, however it seems veryunlikely that Sears could have sold 52,000 homes between 1930-1932.
Two years later, in 1934, the company's annual report to stockholders statedthat the Modern Homes department had been closed. That year, Sears liquidatedmore than $11 million of their home mortgages. At a time when the average Searshouse cost well under $4,000, and mortgages were typically a fraction of thatamount, this was a staggering sum. Foreclosing on (and evicting) Sears bestcustomers from their own homes became a public relations nightmare.
In 1935, the Modern Homes department was reopened, but the days of Sears homeloans were over. Sears no longer actively pushed their Modern Homes, butcontinued to quietly sell houses when customers sent in their order forms.
In 1935, Sears entered into a partnership with General Houses Incorporated,based in Chicago. General Houses specialized in steel, prefabricated houses. By1936, that partnership ended in part because the hastily-erected, faddish,low-priced houses did not prove suitable for cold climates -- and were perhaps a little tooeconomical. One national magazine quipped, "the air temperature inside andoutside of a 'General House' is pretty much the same."
Between 1932 and 1940, Sears sold fewer than 10,000 homes. The last SearsModern Homes catalog was issued in 1940.
The four-color letterpress printing found amidst the pages of the 1920scatalogs were conspicuously absent from the drab 1940 Modern Homes Catalog.Pictures and descriptions in this 1940 catalog were bland and boring. The boldpromises had disappeared. Prices were no longer listed or even mentioned. Anenclosed letter stated that, due to differences in regional economies, buyersshould write and ask for a quote on the cost to erect a Modern Home in theirlocale.
By contrast, the first ten pages of 1920's Modern Homes catalogs werefilled with pictures and promises, enthusiastically extolling thevirtues of a Sears home. The 1940 catalog had only two pages of subduedassurances, informing buyers that Sears homes were a sound value and met theFederal Housing Authority guidelines. The catalog had 53 pages and offered 38houses, many of which looked remarkably similar.
In September 1939, Business Week magazine opined, "...Sears pulled downthe shades and quietly tiptoed from the room."
An era had come to an end.
Between 1908-1940, Sears sold 110,000 homes in about 370 different styles. (Seenote on styles.) Their sales records, promotional information, catalogsand other ephemera associated with the modern homes department wasunceremoniously destroyed.
Future generations would rediscover these Sears homes our grandparents boughtand built. And we'd fall in love with them all over again.
Other parts of thisstory: Part1: Building by the book ~~ Part3: How to find and identify Sears catalog homes ~~ Anote on the number of designs ~~ List of references forthese stories
To more OHW stories on Searshomes, including the Carlinville, Illinois "Standard Addition."
Text and photos are copyright2002 by Rosemary Thornton and may not be reproduced or distributed without herexpress written consent.
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