Cute rental houses with a little yard, on a sweet block and in walking distance to the Red Line metro are hard to come by in Northwest Washington DC these days, let alone at a reasonable price. Thus, we have no doubt that this charming 3-bedroom, 2-bath Sears “Puritan” will be snatched away quickly. It was built in 1924 and just hit the market for rent in Shepherd Park for $2,500 per month.
It’s a smaller model, though perhaps not as small as it seems, but it seems to have been extremely popular. We’ve come across nearly a dozen of them between Takoma Park and Bethesda.
There are currently no MLS pictures online of the Dutch Colonial-style frame home, but when I saw the house last year, it pretty much still looked like in this 2006 photo tour.
Click on the thumb print of the mail-order catalog pages above to see a larger PDF version.
While the house has been adapted to a more contemporary life style (the kitchen has been opened up at some point, and sliding doors off the dining room now give access to a deck), many details have been preserved. Most doors still have the original “Strathmore” hardware; the front door and many windows as well as much of the trim are intact as well.
A charming touch, at least for those of us in the know, is the garage — accessed from the alley — that comes with the house. It was also ordered from the Sears catalog — check out the characteristic 5-piece Sears eaves brackets and the little window above the door. It was offered in several different sizes and with then-high tech tri-fold doors (which didn’t survive).
Wondering why there are two of those garages? Well, the house right next door is a Sears “Fullerton” built at the same time, but in rather sad shape today. Surely, they either had the same builder, or the owners coordinated their efforts.)
As always, if you’d like to tour the “Puritan” or any other DC/MD home on the market — kit or contemporary — just let us know!
If you’d like to learn more about the historic 20th century mail-order homes, or if you think you live in one and would like help authenticating it, check our some of our other kit house blogs and posts.
And if you’re thinking you would like to live in an original Sears catalog home… maybe even a Puritan, 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.
