Month: October 2012

Winsome & Walkable Winthrop

Marcie Sandalow Kit Houses , , , , ,
1928 Beauty- an authentic Sears Winthrop

Painted bright yellow with sky blue shutters, you won’t want to miss this little time capsule of a home, located in the Crestwood section of Bethesda… within walking distance of downtown Friendship Heights. .

The exterior of this particular Winthrop could be lifted directly off of the Sears Kit House catalog page.  The shutters look to be original.  The porch is pristine and still sports the same thin beams.  The front door looks like it might have changed, but the arc of the entryway is spot on, as are the dormers and the chimney.  Inside are a bunch of markers of Sears homes… such as the famous junction blocks at the  stairway trim, the plain-bottom, back band window moldings, the “Narcissus” door knobs or the “Colonial fireplace” the home was endowed with –check out the catalog and real-life pictures below. (Also, you can see the MLS pictures here.)

What really caught my eye, however, were the markings under the basement stairway.  It’s a good thing that I’ve been dieting lately, because I had to squeeze behind the furnace to get a good look.  Why I didn’t think to send my elfin partner Cati in for the task speaks to my reckless enthusiasm upon discovering the markings!  This is the first house where I’ve seen an actual catalog number written in grease pencil on one of the beams.  So, hey- this is an authentic Sears catalog home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Built in 1928, the original house offered up 2 bedrooms and one full bath. Today it has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, thanks to an addition in the back.

On our way out of the house we ran into the owners.  They bought it from the son of the fellow who originally built the house. They actually had heard it was a Sears house, and had even tried to find images, but were unable to identify the house. (Well, actually, if all the kit houses we have here were as easily identified as this one…) The owners told us the house hadn’t been in the best of shape when they purchased it. They tried to preserve as much as they could but the siding unfortunately was beyond repair.

The “Winthrop” is available for $699,500, or you can rent it for $3,125 per month.

Door handle from a Sears Winthrop house in Bethesda
Bedroom door knob (upper left) from the house, and pictures from the1928 Sears catalog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re thinking you would like to live in an original Sears catalog home… maybe even a Winthrop, please get in touch with us.  We are constantly scouring the marketplace for authentic catalog homes, and would be delighted to help you find one of your own.  Fill out the form below, or simply pick up the phone and give us a call.

The Fabulous Tale Of One Family’s Kit Home

Catarina Bannier Kit Houses , , ,
History of a Sears Kit Home

History of a Sears Kit HomeAs Marcie and I have been chasing (and writing about) kit houses for a while, we’ve always been interested in their history, or better: their connection to history. sometimes, I have found an old ad in the Washington Post that advertised a house we identified, or that promoted the local mail-order offices from Sears and Lewis. Sometimes information about the people who lived there in the early years can be found, about their successes or their death.

Most of the time, however, there’s a blank. We can only speculate (and we often do!). More often than not, current kit house owners have no idea their home was built from a kit, and sometimes they have no idea what that even means. (We’ve been asked whether that meant it was “kind of manufactured” or “prefabricated.”) Other people, however, who have heard of kit homes and are excited about them, frequently have come to believe their house is a kit when in fact it’s not.

Rare House HistoryThat said, it’s always delightful to come across a real kit house history, like the one that’ so lovingly documented on this little website. The Troyers of Kansas are telling the almost 100-year old story of their Sears “Concord,” complete with lots of pictures. Gee, I love this. Really.

Romantic Rodessa in Northwest DC’s Kent

Marcie Sandalow Kit Houses , , , ,

If Cati and I had our druthers, we would write about local kit houses on a weekly basis (this has  always been the goal).  Work, however, has a way of interfering with our plans.  I guess we shouldn’t complain!

So, about three weeks ago I headed out with my trusty tape measure to pay a visit to 5414 Hawthorne Place, NW in the District, right along MacArthur Blvd. Had I been a bit speedier with my posting, some of you might have chanced a visit.  As it stands now, the Sears Rodessa (see a pdf of the original catalog page here) bungalow is under contract.  Rats.

Built in 1925, this modified “Rodessa” (click here for MLS pictures) offers up 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths.  It would appear that it started off with a simple 2 bedrooms and 1 full bath (hey- count your blessings. Sears also offered a version without a privy).  Along the way, someone added some really unfortunate faux-stone siding, which remains to this day.  At the same time, they appear to have expanded the front porch to accommodate the massive FormStone® posts, so perhaps it was a good trade-off?  Naah.

Identifying this Sears Rodessa was pretty easy, given all of the clues (again, see pictures at the very bottom of this post):

  • Many exterior finishes survived the not-so-pretty faux stone dress: the exposed pegged rafters under the clipped gable roof and decorative blind boards for instance
  • The front door matches the exact classic bungalow-style door in the Sears catalog.  With 8-glass panels sitting atop a small “shelf”, this one is in the bag
  • The original Sears medicine cabinet with its plain bottom and three-member crown… a dead give-away
  • All the interior window and door trim and much of the hardware (such as the “Stratford” door plates–see pictures in the slideshow below) are preserved, and some are more unusual, for instance the “door butts” or closet hinges.  To be honest, these had us fooled, until Cati spied them in a long lost catalog
  • Many exterior finishes survived the not-so-pretty faux stone dress: the exposed pegged rafters under the clipped gable roof and decorative blind boards for instance
  • The measurements of all the (unaltered) rooms in the front of the house “check out,” meaning, a clone would not adhere to Sears specs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kent is a popular, if not sleepy little section of Washington, DC.  While it’s hard to know how the Hawthorne house came to the neighborhood, remnants of the old Capitol Transit #20 trolley line (Union Station to Cabin John) are to be found throughout the Palisades, the neighborhood next to Kent. The #20 was a popular route though the Palisades out to the Glen Echo Amusement Park. Chances are strong that the Sears kit house was transported on this very rail line.

 

 

 

 

 

If you think you’ve got a kit house, or if you are interested in living in a kit house- get in touch!  Fill out the form below, or give us a call (yup, we still answer our phones).

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Sukkot in DC — Celebrating Shelter And Comfort

Catarina Bannier Community , , , ,
Private Sukkah in Rosemary Hills, Silver Spring MD

In a way, it’s a celebration of the home. This week, Jewish families all over the world celebrate Sukkot, the “Feast of Booths.” The observance requires life — meals, gatherings and perhaps even sleep — in a fragile and temporary structure that is neither heated nor rainproof. It’s a joyous and at the same time humbling experience. Even if you’re not Jewish, you might have seen the big tent-like structures set up in many places downtown that office workers take their lunches to, or you might have noticed the little hut your neighbor built on their balcony or in their backyard. Sukkot is a way to connect not only to our suffering biblical ancestors but to those today who are without proper homes and shelter, who are refugees or otherwise lacking the basic comfort we take for granted.

We have asked friends and clients to share cell phone pictures of Sukkot (booths) this week, either their own or of any they might spot somewhere this week.  You can find the beautiful collection in the slideshow below, and we will keep adding to it. So, if you happen to have a Sukkah or see one, make sure to email or text us a picture!

[Update 10/7: Thanks to all of you who contributed! One picture was even sent in from Denver, Colorado!]