16 • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2021 • HOUSE TO HOME
Sears mail-order homes prove
plentiful in Western Pennsylvania
More unique dwellings
scattered across the region
by If home is where the heart is, then
those living in houses built from
Sears’ mail-order kits may have
fallen head-over-heels.
A recent Tribune-Review story
about a 1922 Sears mail-order
home in McCandless that has
most of its original features intact
drew scores of letters and
comments from Pittsburgh area
residents interested in learning
more about the unique role these
houses played in U.S. history.
In the story, homeowner Alicia
Dallago said she had no idea the
home she bought in 1998 was built
from a kit.
Between 1908 and 1940, Sears,
Roebuck and Co. sold nearly 75,000
kit homes through its Modern
Homes program, which featured
447 styles of houses, ranging from
large multistory dwellings to tiny
summer cottages with an optional
outhouse.
Among those chiming in about
the article was Judith Chabot of
St. Louis, Mo., who runs Sears-
HouseSeekers.com, which serves
as a depository for information
we asked my grandmother about
but that’s all they sold,” Chabot
to have been constructed
on the list with 1,679.
gathered by Sears home enthusiasts
it, she said: ‘Oh, yes, we ordered it
said. “I think the reason the
in the region.
While Sears no longer has records
across the country.
from the Sears catalog,’” Chabot
Sears house is so interesting is
Statewide, about 1,900 Sears catalog
“We thought it might be of interest
said.
that most people associate them
homes have been identified.
to those readers to point out
“I was intrigued by the concept
with the Wish Book catalog that
“Our research team especially
some more of the history of Sears
of people picking out a house
came in the mail at Christmas. I
loves searching Pennsylvania
houses in the greater Pittsburgh
from a catalog,” she said. “I love
thought it was very interesting
for Sears houses because there
area,” said Chabot, whose family
finding these houses and learning
when I learned that you could also
are so many there,” Chabot said.
still owns a Sears Silverdale model
home in Northampton, Mass.,
more about them, the different
buy a house from their catalogs.”
“Our national database of Sears
that was built by her great-grandparents
models that were sold and the
Chabot focuses her research
houses in the U.S. has over 13,500
in 1911.
people who bought them.”
on scouring mortgages and deed
homes on it, and, after Ohio and
It wasn’t until she was in her
Chabot said while Sears wasn’t
records, old newspaper articles
Illinois, Pennsylvania is No. 3 in
20s that Chabot learned about the
the first or only company to sell
and other sources to identify kit
U.S. with, at today’s count, 1,963
home’s history.
mail-order homes, they were
homes sold by Sears.
Sears homes found.”
“My uncle mentioned that he
unique among the competition.
The group has identified nearly
The group has identified 2,700
had found some shipping labels
“Other companies such as
540 of the estimated 1,000 Sears
Sears homes in Ohio and 2,300 in
and other sellers.
from Sears in the house and when
Aladdin sold mail-order homes,
mail-order homes that are believed
Illinois. New York ranks fourth
Chabot notes that Sears’of where each of the nearly
75,000 mail-order homes it sold
were built, it does main an extensive
archive of the models that
were available as well as the history
of its Modern Homes division.
Chabot can help people identify
if their home was built from
a Sears kit if they provide her
with an address of the property
through the House Seekers website,
which also has links to catalogs
produced by the company
TONY LARUSSA
COURTESY OF NORMAJEAN MOSER
This Sears mail-order kit home in McCandless is owned by Normajean
Moser. Parts for the homes, which were sold between 1908 and 1940,
were delivered to the nearest rail station. Buyers could hire a contractor
to assemble their home or build it themselves following the detailed
instructions that were included.
COURTESY OF JUDITH CHABOT
In 1916, Sears began shipping pre-cut lumber in its mail-order kit homes
that contained stamped numbers used to match pieces during construction.
COURTESY OF JUDITH CHABOT
Sears mail-order house kits can often be identified by the shipping labels
that were placed on the backside of trim. This label was discovered in a
Sears Silverdale model home built in 1911 in Northhampton, Mass., by
Judith Chabot’s grandparents. Chabot runs a national website dedicated to
gathering and sharing information about Sears mail-order homes.
COVER STORY