Editor's note: Rosemary Thornton is one of the country's leading experts on Sears catalog homes. She's also the author of a new book, "The Houses That Sears Built: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sears Catalogue Homes," published in 2002 by Gentle Beam Publications.
By Rosemary Thornton
Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears Roebuck and Company, is regarded by many experts as the authoritative research tool on Sears catalog homes. It lists 447 different designs of Sears homes sold, but I believe the number of actual different designs is 370.
Through obtaining and studying several old Sears Modern Homes catalogs, I've discovered about 10 houses (and one school!) that were not listed in Houses by Mail. There are also a few duplicate listings in Houses by Mail.
In later years (the 1930s), Sears began calling the same house a different name if it had brick rather than wood siding. For example, the Willard and the Randolph are identical in every way--but one is brick and the other has wooden siding. Ditto on The Brentwood and The Oxford, The Parksdale and The Jeanette, The Mayfield and The Berwyn. There are a couple dozen of these examples of the same houses with different siding. Eliminating these brick/wooden differences, subtracting the redundant listings and adding in the 10 designs not previously listed, I came up with about 370 different designs of Sears homes. That's my number and I'm sticking with it. However, I still regard Houses by Mail as a fantastic resource and a great book!
Other parts of this story: Part 1: Building by the book | Part 2: Post-WWI building boom | Part 3: How to find and identify Sears catalog homes | List of references for these stories
To more OHW stories on Sears homes
Text and photos are copyright 2002 by Rosemary Thornton and may not be reproduced or distributed without her express written consent.
