The Woodruffs’ Vallonia

sears Vallonia on Franklin

It’s always fun to follow up on some old blog posts, and even more fun when we can announce a historic mail-order home for sale in the process! A few years ago, we wrote about a popular Sears catalog model, the “Vallonia.” Its arts-and-crafts style and spacious expandable interior hit the taste of the 1920s and was loved in our area as well; about a dozen still existing specimen in DC and its close-in suburbs have been authenticated so far. We featured Vallonia owners Kathryn and Simon back then, and here’s the exciting news: You can see their lovely home from the inside now, and you could even purchase it! It’s listed for $619,000 and open this weekend.

The home’s first owner was a certain Miles L Woodruff, who–according to the DC City Directory from 1928–lived in the house with his wife, Myrtle, née England. Myrtle and Miles had only been married since 1923, when Miles was 24 years old and Myrtle was 22. The kids certainly got on with their lives a little faster a hundred years ago, didn’t they! They listed Sears Roebuck as the “architect” on their 1927 building permit, and the closest railroad tracks for the delivery of the parts was barely a couple of blocks away. We don’t know what Miles did for a living, but Myrtle was listed as a “dictaphone operator for the Aviation Institute of the US”. (Check this out if you have no clue what that might even have been.)

Fast-forward to the pandemic year of 2020, and you will find a fabulous 5-bedroom home with an awesome 21st-century kitchen and a huge backyard. (And in case you’ll ever find yourself going to an office again, the place is just about three and a half miles away from the U.S. Capitol.) It’s a nice mix of historic architectural detail (those narrow-width floors!) and modern conveniences. We loved Miles and Myrtle’s radiators and some iron ovens that perhaps could still heat up the basement.

As for Simon and Kathryn, we’re not at liberty to say where they ran off to, but just want to congratulate them on their adorable new baby boy. He’s a total charmer, and one day, they’ll probably take him back to visit 3003 Franklin St NE in Langdon. Brace yourself!

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Launching the Chevy Chase Kit House Database

chevy chase mail-order houses - map
Click on the image for our interactive kit house map with house photos and catalog pages

It was exactly a year ago, during a talk we gave at Historic Chevy Chase DC, that the idea was born to somehow make our research public, not only to the local kit house owners, but also many other people who were fascinated with the unique concentration of larger mail-order homes here. After (not kidding here!) thousands of hours, we can now present the first results — a color-coded interactive map and a corresponding database of homes/models and historical information. We’re working on integrating the material into the Historic Chevy Chase DC website and hope to interlink it with much more house history, artifacts and oral history in the future.

Chevy Chase, DC (zip code 20015), has a unique (both in quality as well as density) collection of historic catalog houses. Nearly 100 existing homes and 61 different models have so far been authenticated, and there are several more suspects. The homes are from four different manufacturers (Sears Roebuck & Co.; Lewis Manufacturing Co.; International Mill and Lumber a.k.a. Sterling; and Gordon-Van Tine) and were built between 1915 and 1932.

It’s probably not a coincidence that the most popular models here were the Lewis “Chevy Chase,” the Sears “Americus” and the Sears “Martha Washington!” The following catalog homes show up more than once in Chevy Chase/DC:

One of Chevy Chase DC’s three picture-perfect Sears “Puritans,” decked out for Halloween

Lewis “Chevy Chase” (4 times)

Sears “Americus” (4 times)

Sears “Martha Washington” (4 times)

Sears “Rembrandt” (4 times)

Sears “Woodland” (4 times)

Lewis “Ardmore” (3 times)

Lewis “Cambridge” (3 times)

Lewis “Winthrop” (3 times)

Sears “Barrington” (3 times)

Sears “Kilbourne” (3 times)

Sears “Puritan” (3 times)

Sears “Walton” (3 times)

Lewis “Marengo” (2)

Sears “Alhambra” (2)

Sears “Lewiston” (2)

Sears “Priscilla” (2)

Sears “Rockford” (2)

Sears “Westly” (2)

The likely top runner, however, might be the Sears “Maywood” (5 times), although we don’t have full proof yet for the authenticity of those homes. (All 5 of them were built by a small builder who doesn’t name Sears Roebuck on the permits, but rather the original architect who published his rendition of the Maywood more than 10 years before Sears carried it in their catalogs!) We’re working on it, though, and will update you once we are a hundred percent sure.

In the meantime, we’d be happy for you to test-drive and explore our proud creation. Comments, questions and suggestions are always welcome!