Sears "Honor-Bilt" Kit Home

This home, at 810 Seventh Ave. was built from a kit offered in the 1920s during the peak years of the kit home sales. It was one of their high-end models (the Honor-Bilt line) and sold for between $2,700 and $3,200 (roughly $40,000 to $47,000 in 2022 dollars), depending on what extra features were selected. Storm doors and windows, screen doors and windows, oak trim were all possible upgrades. Plumbing and electrical fixtures were to be selected separately.

Throughout the country, during the first half of the 20th century about 100,000 families relied on Sears Roebuck and Company for one of the most important purchases they would ever make: a home. From luxury dwellings to modest bungalows to summer cottages, people living within short distances of where a freight train could unload its cargo lived in a Sears home. Many such structures still survive, albeit with considerable modifications.

During the final decade of the 19th and first half of the 20th century, many do-it-yourselfers built homes from mail order kits. Parts of a home would be delivered, most often by railroad, to the buyer. The parts would arrive in a staggered sequence, basic structures first then continuing at a regular schedule until the final trim arrived at the end of the series. The customer would, with the help of friends, assemble the parts as they arrived. Mail order house kits came in a variety of sizes and architectural styles. Often, in small communities, the style and quality were an improvement on what was available by local construction companies,

By far, the largest manufacturer of house kits was Sears Roebuck. Between 1908 and 1950, when they ceased selling kit homes, they sold more than 70,000 homes nation-wide, primarily on the east coast and mid-west. Their first catalog devoted to mail-order homes was issued in 1908 and featured 22 styles costing from $650 to $2,500. Over the years Sears developed more than 370 designs in many sizes and architectural styles. (1) They sold kits for everything from sheds to cottages to homes to small apartment buildings. Central heating, indoor plumbing, and electricity were all new technologies in the early 20th century but included in many Sears model kits. In many cases the workmanship was better than what might be available locally. Sears also offered very attractive financing terms which was another reason they came to dominate the field. The depression saw a slump in sales and for a brief period, sales in the mid-west were suspended. They soon resumed but Sears no longer handled financing. (2)

Most kits were sold to individuals but, during World War I, they supplied kits for hospital buildings to the Red Cross. Sears also sold houses to large businesses that had established company towns for employees. It also supplied kits for some structures at Civilian Conservation Corps camps. (2)

1) Vintage Everyday. “Sears Catalog ‘Kit Homes’ From the Early 20th Century,” February 10, 2019. https://www.vintag.es/2019/02/sears-catalog-homes.html.

2) Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears Roebuck and Company by Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl. National Trust for Historic Preservation.