Catalog Homes Delivered to LaGrange Preview

44 S Spring - Sears Avondale Kit Home

138 N Stone - Sears "Walton"

Built in 1923, this is The Walton from the 1923 Sears Catalog. " This design embodies strength, dignity and gracefulness. It presents a most pleasing appearance and is of a character that will long retain popular favor." The Sears Walton was probably one of Sears top-10 best selling models. It was also one of Sears most practical houses. It had 1200 square feet, a spacious front porch, compact kitchen and less than 40 square feet on the one small hallway. One defining characteristics is a small box window on the front bedroom and oversized porch.Henry Clyde built this house for his family.Note the photo from 1954 that shows the house before the porch was enclosed.

34 Bluff - Aladdin "The Marshfield"

Built in 1924, this kit home, The Marshfield-Plan A, was produced by the Aladdin Company. The catalog pitch for this kit was “the modern trend in home building has definitely turned to small, convenient houses. Lower maintenance costs and easier housekeeping all favor small homes”Notable residents:Police Sargent Charles Blanchard. (1931-1933). Died in bandit duel at LaGrange Western Union Office.WWII Veteran Second Lt. Richard Sibley of the Army Air Force. (1938)Marine Corporal Lewis Breese II served with the First Marine Division at Chu Lai Vietnam. (1966)First Lt. Edwardo Alverez in the US Army served in Iraq War (2003)

83 Bluff - Sears "Osborn"

Built in 1917, this house was one of the first mail order kit homes that Sears put out. The Osborn, had Japanese aesthetics as seen in the peaks of the house. The Asian flavor look was popular in many parts of the country and was a favorite model for many years.Note the photo of the same house from 1962. Major changes were made to the front and exterior of the house.Earliest residence include C H Chapman in 1920 and Edward L Chapman through the 1940’s.WWII veteran, Edward Chapman attended Iowa State school at under the Navy’s V-12 program.

219 9th Ave - Sears "Rodessa"

Built in 1925, this is the Sears kit house The Rodessa. The clipped gable roof and the front porch are trademarks of the Sears Rodessa.This model was used to show the advantages of pre-cut homes. In late 1918, Sears conducted a “race” to build two identical homes using the Rodessa bungalow plan. The precut kit took 352 hours of working time to complete, the traditional hand saw method took 583.5 hours of working time. In the traditional way, the hand saw is to blame. Electric saws did not come into widespread use until 1925.What is interesting about the Rodessa, is that it started out with only one floor plan. It soon changed into two. From 1919 until 1922, the floor plan included a bathroom, but in 1923, Sears started offering a floor plan without a bathroom. This option was only offered from 1923 to 1929.Note the picture from 1950. The porch had been screened in. Now it has been restored to its original grandeur.

313 S *th Ave - Sears "Ivanhoe" Kit Home

Built in 1912 for Oscar Heppe, this is an example of The Ivanhoe, a Sears Catalog home.The Sears Ivanhoe, sold from 1911 to 1918, was a big expensive house “designed by one of Chicago’s leading architects”, according to the catalog. Only a few Sears Ivanhoe have been identified nationwide.Sears did not sell the Ivanhoe with the lumber pre-cut at the factory. They often did this for the more elaborate homes in an effort to keep the process down.In the early years, the Ivanhoe came with two exteriors, but the same interior. One had a two story porch off the side and simple shed dormer over the front door. The other (this house) had no side porch, but a full width front porch.Mrs. Oscar Heppe was interviewed in 1978 about life in LaGrange. (Interview on tape at LaGrange Area Historical Society). Her mother tells of watching the contractors build the front staircase on the lawn, and seeing the stairs installed in the center hallway. Beautiful French doors opened to the living room and dining room. Book cases flank the fire place, and a built-in buffet fits nicely in the dining room niche.Her daughter, Mary, remembers playing hide and seek in the attic and sitting on the “airing” porch upstairs on hot summer nights.

344 S 9th Ave - Sears "Sunbeam" Kit House

Built in 1924, this Sears home, The Sunbeam, featured a screened in sleeping porch on the second floor for those hot summer nights before air conditioning.Photos from 1964, 1971 and 1996 shows the changes it had gone through.

620 S Ashland, Sears "Barrington" Home Kit

Built in 1928, this Modern Tutor, English style kit home from Sears was very popular in the 1920’s and 30’s. The Barrington, was copied by many other kit home builders at the time. It is very similar to the Newcastle from Aladdin and Wardway’s Maywood.This home is a mirror image of the catalog home as seen on the left.The earliest owner on record is Harold J Bluhm in 1933, but the Engst family lived there through the 40’s and 50’s.