Historic Treasure Hunt

Earlier this week I got an unexpected call from a previous owner of our home (the one before the family from whom we bought it) who said she had done some research, at one time, into the history of the house to see if it might have been a Sears catalog home. She had some books and documentation she had collected on the subject and asked if she could drop the materials by if I was interested in pursuing it further. Of course I couldn't wait to learn more about our 92-year-old house!

I actually read in a decorating magazine a few weeks ago about an owner of a historic home who received a letter and pictures from a past owner, and I wished that would happen to us. Never in a million years would I have expected it would actually happen!

Linda, the previous owner who brought us the materials (and who now lives in our old neighborhood, ironically), said she reached out to the ancestors of the original owners of the home, and she had received a letter in return. The letter talks about what the house was like in the '50s when the author would visit his grandparents (the homeowners) while he was attending OU. He describes the china cabinets as beautiful mahogany filled with china and glass serving pieces.

At some point they were painted, but I can imagine how stately and beautiful they must have been in their original state!

The letter also describes a grand piano in the living room, a grandfather clock by the staircase and four-poster beds that required step ladders to climb into. I'm afraid my casual style can't live up to the elegant style this house once knew.

After Linda dropped off her materials, I couldn't wait to start researching. The Internet really helped with this research, and it's a tool Linda didn't have to the same extent back in the '90s.

Our home is a Dutch Colonial style, and Sears did have a mail-order home of similar style during the '20s when our house was built. I also looked into other mail-order home companies of the era, and they all had Dutch Colonials, too.

Sears' was called The Verona:

Montgomery Ward (Wardway Homes) called theirs The Lexington:

C.L. Bowes Co. Design 12322-B:

Gordon Van Tine's #704:

Aladdin's Amsterdam:

Unfortunately, while they all look similar to our house, none of them are a perfect match. I also compared the floor plans and, again, none are a perfect match. A few of them had four bedrooms on the second floor and one even had a sewing room! Several also had breakfast nooks or pantries, which would be nice. The most similar floor plans were The Lexington and Gordon Van Tine's #704, which are identical homes (some architect was working the system and selling his plans to multiple companies!).

Although my search ended in disappointment about our home not being of the mail-order variety, it was still a fun hunt for information, and I was glad to learn more about the history of our house. When we read through the abstract, we discovered that we are only the sixth owners in 92 years! I hope that foreshadows a many happy years for us here. 

P.S. - Linda said her and her husband moved to a single-level home due to her bad knee. I'm guessing she's the reason for our random first-floor closet shower! But I didn't have the guts to ask, haha.