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| 435 N. Yale, Villa Park. Photo from Realtor site. |
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| The Brookwood from Sears Roebuck. |
This house in Villa Park certainly looks like a Sears Brookwood. The floor plan perfectly matches that of the Brookwood. The owner believes the house was purchased from Sears Roebuck. So what's the problem?
This "Sears Brookwood" was sold by Montgomery Ward.
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| Wards mimicked many of the Brookwood's details, from the projected entrance to the flat-top dormer. There's a family room addition on the back that is not visible from the street. Photo from Realtor site. |
You won't find this house in any Wardway Homes catalog. Montgomery Ward custom designed a lookalike to the Sears house for its customer, Leo J. Dingman.
Bottom line: Montgomery Ward wanted to sell as many homes as they could. Even if the home wasn't one of theirs.
This was not the only instance when a kit house company built another company's model. Both Sears and Wards built each other's houses.
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| Living room and front vestibule. Photo from Realtor site. |
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| The staircase for the Brookwood is in the back of the house. Photo from Realtor site. |
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| Dining room. Photo from Realtor site. |
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| Photo from Realtor site. |
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| The Brookwood had three bedrooms. This is the one above the front door. Photo from Realtor site. |
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| Photo from Realtor site. |
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| Photo from Realtor site. |
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| The built-in linen closet. Photo from Realtor site. |
2 comments:
Crazy! Nice house though. Good detective work, Lara!
Sears House Seeker blog
Fascinating! More proof that you can't judge a book by its cover! This Wards/Sears Brookwood is adorable and well-maintained. Too bad that interesting casement window was relegated to a closet. When the woodwork was painted at some point, someone had the good sense to not paint the shelf of the phone niche in the dining room... looks sharp like that!
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