Guide to Kit Houses & Homes
List of Manufacturers of Kit Homes
How to Identify Kit Houses

How to identify, inspect, preserve & maintain kit homes: Aladdin Kit Homes, Bennett Kit Homes, Gordon Van Tine Catalog Homes, Harris Homes, Lewis Liberty Catalog Homes, Lewis Kit Homes, Lustron Steel Homes, Montgomery Wards Catalog Kit Homes, Sears Kit Houses, Pacific Kit Homes, Ready-Built Homes, Robinson's Kit Homes, or Sears Catalog Homes, Sears Honor-Bilt Homes, Sears Standard-Bilt Kit Homes, Sterling Kit Homes, and other kit houses

Photographs of homes and house details are provided along with references and books to help identify kit homes

CONTAINER HOUSING - separate article
KIT HOMES, Aladdin, Sears, Wards, Others
MOBILE HOMES, DOUBLEWIDES, TRAILERS - separate article
MODULAR HOME CONSTRUCTION - separate article
PANELIZED CONSTRUCTION - separate article
Questions & Answers about kit homes: sources, history, identification, repair, inspection
References

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This article lists the manufacturers of kit or catalog homes sold in the United States and provides links to additional references, kit home identification, kit or catalog home restoration and repairs, and kit home architectural and hardware details, markings, and stencils. For more extensive references on identifying and determining the age of buildings see Find the Age of a House How to Determine the Age of a Building from Visual Clues, Architectural Style, Building Materials, Construction Details, or Documentary Clues

A List of Manufacturers of Kit Homes and their Identification Markings

We've had less success finding details about other kit home companies selling in the United States and Canada, though Rebecca Hunter has compiled a list of a variety of kit house companies. Benefiting from Hunter's work as well as our own search we list a number of kit or catalog home manufacturers here.

Aladdin Kit Homes: Details are at ALADDIN KIT HOUSES. Aladdin Readi-Cut Homes: Beating Sears to the kit home market, Aladdin, in Bay City Michigan, 1906-1981 began selling kits in 1906. The company sold "pre-cut" home kits to build cottages and later arts-and-crafts homes.

Also see Sterling Kit Homes and Lewis Liberty Kit Homes below. These companies eventually merged. 35 models available in 1949. 75,000 homes sold. By the 1960's delivery of these kit homes shifted from rail to truck delivery, which may mean that there will be more homes of this vintage and later built further from rail stations.

Rebecca Hunter says that Aladdin Readi Cut homes and also Lewis and Sterling Kit homes (see below) may be identified by grease pencil markings on lumber: "Company numbers are handwritten in grease pencil, usually in the middle of a board. They consist of numerals, usually hyphenated in groups of 2 or 3. Some of the numbers are fractions, e.g. 42-18-11 3/4. Part names may be stamped in ink." [Note: this is not the case for all Aladdin Kit homes, as we demonstrate at ALADDIN KIT HOUSES where stencilled markings are indicated on building framing and sheathing - Ed.]
Bennett Kit Homes: Better-built Kit Homes & Ready-Cut Kit Homes were sold by the Bennet Home and Lumber Company, in North Tonawanda NY 1902- ca 1935. Online discussions include a 1926 Bennett Homes Kit house, in Clarence NY,a book upcoming by Dale Wolicki, and some catalog photos at http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1920-Bennett/ which cites that "Bennett Homes are concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, as well as into the upper Midwest."
Gordon Van Tine Catalog Homes: Ready-Cut Kit Homes Davenport Iowa 1907 (perhaps 1912) to 1946. For identifying marks on Gordon Van Tine Catalog Homes see notes at Montgomery Wards Kit Homes just below.
Harris Homes: a Chicago company in business from 1913 to 1960, perhaps selling kit homes between 1912 and 1925. Ms. Hunter [see references below] indicates that Harris Kit Homes may be identified by markings on framing: "numbers are stenciled in ink, often in the middle of a board, and may be numerals alone, or numerals and letters, or Roman numerals. E.g. 76, HR 50, RI 32 or AII. Home model number and/or order number may be written in grease pencil."
Lewis Liberty Catalog Homes: Bay City Michigan. See "Lewis/Liberty Homes - 59 Years in the Ready-Cut Homes Business," Robert Schweitzer and Sally Linvill Bund, Michigan History, Volume 79, Number 2, March 1995. Also see Rebecca Hunter reference information below.
Lustron Steel Homes: The Lustron company, started in Columbus Ohio in 1947 with a government loan after WW II by Carl Strandlund, provided [mostly] ranch-style steel home kits - the entire home was built of steel products: framing, walls, trusses, roof covering, even interior ceiling tiles.

Strandlund was interested in a porcelain coated steel process that was to be corrosion resistant. See www.lustron.net and also http://www.lustronconnection.org/steelhomestoday.html (a website put up by Kodiak Steel Homes, a modern producer) which gives some history of the company and cites "The Lustron homes were designed to be maintenance free, cost approximately $7,000, and were produced in 1949 and 1950. These homes were considered to be three times stronger that a traditional stick built home and were advertised as being rodent proof, fire proof , lightening proof, and rustproof.".

After selling 2,498 homes (a much smaller number than the number of orders received) in 1950 Lustron declared bankruptcy. 1800 Lustron homes are collected at the U.S. Marine Corps training center in Quantico Virigina, but beginning in January 2006 the Corps announced that these homes would be given away. (If you didn't apply by April 2006 you're probably too late.)
Montgomery Wards Catalog Kit Homes: Montgomery Wards, a Chicago company, sold catalog homes or "kit houses" under the name Wardway Homes from 1910 to 1931, with sales of pre-cut home kits beginning in 1921 and ending in 1931. Rebecca Hunter says that Wards Kit Homes might be identified by lumber markings "numbers are handwritten in grease pencil, usually in the middle of a board. They consist of numerals, hyphenated in groups, e.g. 17-21-19, or 3-5 digit numerals. Part names are stamped in capital letters about 1" high (e.g. "ceiling joist" "top rail"). Delivery address may be stamped or stenciled in ink."
Lewis Kit Homes: for possible identifying marks on Lewis Kit homes see notes above at Aladdin.
Pacific Kit Homes: a California catalog home company in the construction business from 1908 to at least 1940. (The company made surfboards 1929-1940), possibly selling kit homes for at least some years between 1919 and 1925. Hunter estimates that the company sold 37,000 homes in states west of the Rocky Mountains. Rebecca Hunter suggests that Pacific kit homes may be identified by framing components that "... are marked in grease pencil with a 4 digit number, probably the order number, and the names of the parts."
Ready-Built Homes: often cited along with Sears and Wards, searches turn up too many builders using this term, including Alfred G. Oxley, Elizabeth New Jersey, president of Sterling Service Homes, who was reported have been jailed for fraud after he failed to provide the "ready built" homes sold to his clients for $36,000. each. "OXLEY NOW IN THE TOMBS.; Head of "Ready-Built" Homes Scheme Is Held in $25,000 Bail." New York Times, 25 July 1922. We're still looking for details )
Robinson's Kit Homes: often cited along with Sears and Wards, we're still looking for details (Jan 2008)
Sears Catalog Homes: Details are at SEARS KIT HOUSES. Sears Roebuck is estimated to have sold 100,000 catalog homes in the U.S. between 1908 and 1940, with probably the heaviest individual sales years before 1929. Sears Roebuck's business model differed from some or all of the other kit home marketers by offering an accompanying home mortgage to their customers beginning in 1916. Thornton says there were 370 different home models; Hunter says there were 450 different house models. Sears sold building products before 1900, and sold kit homes from 1908 to 1940. From 1940 to 1950 or 1951 Sears sold Homart pre-fabricated home kits in a more limited distribution.
Sears Honor-Bilt Homes: were distributed by Sears Catalog and represented a higher-quality construction. Framing spacing intervals were 14 3/8" instead of the standard 16" (or even 24" in some older non-kit homes), and interiors used a better grade of lumber to fabricate flooring and trim.
Sears Standard-Bilt Kit Homes: were a more economical line of kit houses (see Honor-Bilt above) and were less insulated. "Simplex Sectional" homes were a still simpler home design sold by Sears.
Sterling Kit Homes: Bay City Michigan. For possible identifying marks on Lewis Kit homes see notes above at Aladdin; also see Rebecca Hunter's information listed below.

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Technical Reviewers & References

Related Topics, found near the top of this page suggest articles closely related to this one.

Thanks to Ralph & Elizabeth Arlyck for information regarding Aladdin Kit homes - June 2010

References for Identifying Kit and Catalog Homes from Various Manufacturers

Amazon Books on Sears and other Kit or Catalog Houses - you can buy these great reference books on Kit Homes online
Aladdin 'Built in a Day' House Catalog, 1917 Dover Publications, 1995. ISBN: 048628591X, also see http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/catdir.htm for Aladdin kit home catalogs in the Clarke Library
Aladdin Company archives at the Clarke Library, University of Central Michigan
Aladdin House Catalog, in reprint form, is available from Amazon.com
Aladdin Houses are cataloged by the Arts & Crafts Society at http://64.66.180.31/archive/aladdin.shtml
More information including a description of the Aladdin model Georgia No.2 Aladdin home built in Claremont NY is in this archive http://clarke.cmich.edu/aladdin/Aladdin.htm
America's Favorite Homes : Mail-Order Catalogues As a Guide to Popular Early 20th-Century Houses, Schweitzer, Robert and Davis, Michael, 1990, Detroit, Wayne State University Press, ISBN: 0814320066
Elgin Illinois Ornamental Concrete Block in Residential Architecture from the Elgin Heritage Commission, Hunter, Rebecca, 2005. Available from Gail Borden Public Library Elgin IL.
117 House Designs of the Twenties, Gordon-Van Tine, Dover Publications, 1992. ISBN: 0486269590
Bennett's Small House Catalogue, 1920 Reprint Edition, February 1994. Dover Publications. ISBN: 0486278093.
Homes in a Box: Modern Homes from Sears Roebuck, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 1997. ISBN: 0764304321.
Homes and Interiors of the 1920's, Morgan Woodwork Organization. Ottawa, Ontario: Lee Valley Tools Ltd., 1987. Reprint of Building With Assurance 1921
Houses by Mail, Katherine Cole Stevenson & H. Ward Jandl, Preservation Press, 1986, ISBN 0-89133-120-4 (available in reprint from Amazon.com) Use the house type key on page 39 to speed look-up in this field guide to Sears Catalog pre-cut homes.
Houses from Books, Reiff, Daniel D. University Park PA: Philadelphia State University Press; 1990.
The Ideal Catalogue House: Mail-Order Architecture and Consumer Culture, 1914-1930., Joselow, Evie T., PhD. Dissertation, 1998, City University of New York
Sears Houses: The Houses that Sears Built, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sears Catalog Homes, Rosemary Thornton, Gentle Beam Publications - http://www.gentlebeampublications.com/, 2004, ISBN 0-9715588-1-7 Also see Rosemary Thornton's own website listed below
Sears Houses: Finding the Houses that Sears Built, A Guide to the 60 Most Popular Designs, Rosemary Thornton, Gentle Beam Publications - http://www.gentlebeampublications.com/, 2004, ISBN 0-9715588-2-5. Thornton's books are listed at Searshomes.org
Sears Houses: There's no place like a catalog, Sturdy Sears homes arrived by mail: many survive nearby, newspaper article, Poughkeepsie Journal, Section F p. 1-2, 7 January 1990
Sears Houses: Beyond Sears: Mail Order Homes in Elgin Illinois from Aladdin, Lewis, Sterling, Harris Brothers, Gordon-Van Tine and Montgomery Ward, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission 2004. Available from the Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin IL.
Sears Houses: Elgin Illinois Ornamental Concrete Block in Residential Architecture, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission, 2005. Available from Gail Borden Public Library Elgin IL.
Sears Houses: Elgin Sears House Research Project, Hunter, Rebecca, Elgin Heritage Commission 1999. Available from the Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin IL.
Sears Houses: Putting Sears Homes on the Map: A compilation of testimonials published in Sears Modern Homes Catalogs from 1908-1940, Elgin IL, Hunter, Rebecca 2004, ISBN 0-9762096-0-8, 116 pp, $20 available from Rebecca Hunter Press, 847 697-4551, FAX 847-697-455
Sears Barns: Sears, Roebuck Book of Barns Reprint of the 1919 Catalog, preface by Rebecca Hunter and Dale P Wolicki, 2004, ISBN 0-9762096-1-6, 84 pp, $20, available from Rebecca Hunter Press, 847 697-4551, FAX 847-697-4550

Daniel Friedman Building inspection, diagnosis, testing by this website author, forensic laboratory services for building and environmental diagnosis
Rosemary Thornton publisher and researcher of information about Sears Catalog Homes
Sears Roebuck Archives includes the national Sears Home Registry
"Sears Catalog House Enthusiasts" a contact list

List of kit home catalogs available at National Trust Library:
Aladdin Homes. Number 29. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1917. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
Aladdin Homes. Number 32. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1920. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
Aladdin Homes. Number 37. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1925. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
Aladdin Homes. Number 44. The Aladdin Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1931. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N61
Aladdin Houses. Number18. North American Construction Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1910. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N6
Aladdin Houses. Number 26. North American Construction Company, Bay City, Michigan. 1915. NTL Stacks: NA8480.N6
Log Cabins. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1935. NTL Stacks: TH4840.S43 1935
Modern Homes. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1936. NTL FOLIO TH4819.P7S42 1936
One House or a Hundred. Sears, Roebuck and Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1920. NTL FOLIO TH4819.P7S435 1920
A Plan Book of Harris Homes. Harris Brothers Company, Chicago, Illinois. 1918. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7H27 1918
Ready Built Buildings. Ready Built House Company, Portland, Oregon. 1915. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7R42 1915
Robinson's Money-Saving Mill-Made Cut-To-Fit Houses. C.H. Robinson Company, Providence, Rhode Island. 1914. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7C22 1914
Wardway Homes, Montgomery Ward, Chicago, Illinois. 1924. NTL Stacks TH4819.P7M66 1924

We recommend all three of these publications. Item #1 is a great reference catalog of home designs, organized to help as a field guide. Rosemary Thornton's two books contain additional specific details which you will find instrumental in identifying Sears Catalog Homes.

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