Never lived in a sears home myself, but have a friend who does.
My ex-wife’s grandmother owned one that was built in 1910 and was in her family from that time until she passed in the late 80’s.
Jim Walter’s Homes. Came as a kit.
My grandparents built a magnificent Sears house on their large parcel of property. I have fond memories about that home.
A friend of mine lived in a Sears house in Hollywood, CA, from 1921. It was pretty much in original shape but dismal. Dark, 2 outlets per room. Railroad shack kind of thing, not pretty like the one pictured.
His doorbell had stopped working years and years before. One day the mailman came up to the door with a package, rand the bell, and “ding!”
Somewhat later my friend realized what had happened, and began a diligent search to find out what was powering the bell. It turned out to be one those old cells, like 3” in diameter and 8” tall. Everready, with the black cat. Buried deep in the rafters.
So he called the company thinking they’d be at least mildly interested in the story.
Couldn’t care less.
My dad put a few of these kits up. One right down the block from me. Also Medallion Homes. Whole house arrived on a trailer with precut framing.
Back then an oak floor was a “cheap” floor.
The failure of vision that led to the current state of Sears, rather than leveraging their vast catalog operations to become what Amazon has become instead, is a sad thing to ponder. They had practically all they needed, already in place.
http://www.sears-homes.com/2012/01/unknown-origin-of-richard-nixons-mail.html
Richard Nixon was born in a kit house, but it was not a Sears house.
I lived in a house which was built in 1957 from a Popular Mechanics floor plan. The original plans were included in the documents provided with the house. Very nice design actually.
My town has many of those homes. A number of them were made from just purchased plans.
I always wondered why so many house looked exactly the same as a kid.
Sears also sold automobiles.
Uncle Arthur’s home, on a farm in Kansas, was from Sears. I don’t know when it was built.
There were the all-metal Lustrons, and also Gunderson pre-fabbed houses that could be assembled by 2 men in a week.
IIRC our fraternity house was a Sears house
Grandparents owned one . It is still standing and in very good shape .
My ancestors had lost everything in the fire a few years earlier, couldn't afford Sears, they went with a different vendor. Thanks PROCON.
Well, I once wore a Craftsman suit.
We live in one. Built in 1904. Shipped by rail to town,then built by a local carpenter.
If you decided you wanted some minor modification such as, say, a bay window, there were smaller kits which would be shipped by parcel post.
The post office was a logistical marvel in those days. You could post a letter in Maine and it would typically arrive at a destination in California three days later, maybe four if it was too far off a main rail line. Trains plied the tracks 24/7 and ran on time. Many of these trains included a postal rail car which had a crew sorting mail en route. Bags were coded according to station and direction and could be picked up and dropped off with a special hook and pulley arrangement even if the train didn't make a stop at that particular station.
Sorting errors were rare and were usually caught by the destination station master and rerouted before the postal patron even noticed a delay in delivery.