MAIL-ORDER MANSIONS  

by Pam North

Denver has them, as do many other Colorado towns and cities.  There's at
least one in Gilpin County; a tiny cabin just west of Pinecliffe has
the distinction of being a modest example of what was commonly called a
"kit house."  Its current owner has seen the numbered structural
components, and has been told by his grandparents that railroad workers
helped the family assemble the house in Pinecliffe's early days.

Over 100,000 kit homes were built in the United States between 1908 and
1940.  Many of their inhabitants have lived in them completely unaware
of the historical and architectural significance of their domiciles.
New interest has been generated in these interesting bits of Americana.

The Aladdin Company of Bay City, Michigan premiered the concept in 1906,
and it wasn't until 1908 that Sears Roebuck embraced the idea by
offering a catalog of 22 plans for moderately-sized houses, each to be
accompanied by specifications and construction supplies.  Sears'
mail-order company, founded in 1886, quickly became the leader in sales
of kit houses, due mainly to its visibility in mass-merchandising; its
name was synonomous with retailing.  As customers leafed through the
thick 1908 Sears catalog featuring more than 100,000 items, they must
have wondered at the novel idea of buying a house by mail. Affordable
housing was just as much a major concern back then as it is now, and the
kit house concept changed home-building and buying habits for the 
next 32 years.  The do-it-yourself buildings offered by Sears gave
their customers the opportunity to join the enviable ranks of
homeowners.

Soon the Sears catalog featured 44 models from which to choose, ranging
in price from $495 to $4,115 (about $9,900 to $82,300 in today's
dollars).  The process was simple; just select a house and place the
order.  A few weeks later, two railway boxcars would arrive at the
nearest depot, and contained within were 30,000 components, ranging from
pre-cut numbered lumber pieces, hardware, nails (750 pounds worth),
paint and varnish, carved staircases, windows and doors, hardware - the
whole nine yards necessary to construct a home.  All that remained for
the new homeowner to come up with was any masonry or plaster required. 
A 76-page leather-bound instruction book was also included, with the
homeowner's name impressively stamped in gold on the cover.  The book
offered one particularly notable piece of advice: "Do not take anyone's
advice as to how this building should be assembled."

The logistics of getting the house kit from the depot to the building
site were formidable.  In the early days, people made countless trips
back and forth between the station and the building lot, and the
difficulty of this transportation dictated that most Sears homes were
built within a short distance from the railroad tracks.  If building
sites were outside a town, trains would sometimes make a stop miles from
the depot, at the closest point to the construction location, to allow a
homeowner to unload his materials.

These building projects were often family affairs, with neighbors and
friends assisting during the weeks or months spent on construction, 
and Sears often received letters stating that the homebuilding process
had been enjoyable.  Although Sears promised that any man of "average
abilities" could build a house, a carpenter could be engaged instead 
for the task, at a cost of about $450 (skilled labor was available 
for about $1 an hour back then).
  
One reason Sears homes were so popular was that they offered "sweat
equity."  Anyone willing to assemble those 30,000 pieces into a
house instantly created a tidy nest egg.  Satisfied customers wrote 
to Sears that they had $1,000 to $2,000 of instant equity in their 
newly-built homes.  The Sears catalogs extolled the benefits of owning 
one of its homes: financial freedom, comfort, and an improvement to
the health, morals and well-being of the occupants.  

Next Week - More on Sears kit houses.




Illustration for article is at:
http://64.66.180.31/archive/sears/page6.html
Caption:  A typical Sears kit house, circa 1911.