cover image Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company

Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company

Katherine Cole Stevenson. Preservation Press, $24.95 (365pp) ISBN 978-0-89133-120-9

Between 1908 and 1940 Sears sold over 100,000 nearly completed houses across the country, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. Some 500 models were available, and the company sought to make ordering them ""as easy as ordering an automobile, radio or piece of furniture.'' The houses, which had on average 30,000 pieces and cost between $650 and 2500, were usually shipped by rail and often were assembled by Sears employees. This volume reproduces copy from the original Sears house catalogues. There is, for example, the ``Matoka,'' a two-bedroom bungalow that was popular during World War I. The ``Rockhurst'' had three possible exterior designs. The ``Winthrop'' was based on classic New England styles. This book offers a nostalgic and informative look at the tastes of Americans in the years before World War II. There are 800 illustrations, an informative introduction, a bibliography and an index. (June)