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1920s Kit House

Submitted by HankHardisty on Thu, 05/27/2010 - 8:41am.
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This is a photo of my Grandfather, Joseph Ditzig, taken in 1948, in front of his "kit house" built in 1926. I understood that this house was built from a kit, sold by Sears and Wards at that time. Grandfather and his brother, Uncle Hank, dug the basement after the house was built. I would have liked to have seen how they did that! The house was purchased for $1200 and sold in 1965 for $20K. I remember a coal bin in the basement that fed a monster of a furnace, ugly with big black arms going all over! What a thing to scare a kid! But I also remember the smell of fried chicken that finally overcame the pervasive smoke of his Herbert Taryton cigarettes. Lost Grandfather in 1961. (Thanks American Tobacco Co.) View full size.

This is a photo of my Grandfather, Joseph Ditzig, taken in 1948, in front of his "kit house" built in 1926. I understood that this house was built from a kit, sold by Sears and Wards at that time. Grandfather and his brother, Uncle Hank, dug the basement after the house was built. I would have liked to have seen how they did that! The house was purchased for $1200 and sold in 1965 for $20K.

I remember a coal bin in the basement that fed a monster of a furnace, ugly with big black arms going all over! What a thing to scare a kid! But I also remember the smell of fried chicken that finally overcame the pervasive smoke of his Herbert Taryton cigarettes.

Lost Grandfather in 1961. (Thanks American Tobacco Co.) View full size.

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Sears catalog kit houses

Submitted by Gerry Sell on Wed, 01/12/2011 - 9:24pm.

You can still buy kit houses. They're especially popular in contemporary log cabin styles.

The ones Sears sold have held up very well. There are two of them near me (northwestern lower Michigan, near Torch Lake), and both are snug and sound more than 70 years later. Nicely finished, too--nothing fancy, but everything of good quality.

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Sears Kit Houses

Submitted by flickr4jazz on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 7:09am.

There are still a few of these "kit" house on the Jersey Shore. I have a co-worker who recently bought a "kit" home that was put together in the 40s.

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Kit houses

Submitted by MrsBennett on Fri, 05/28/2010 - 6:48pm.

My dad's grandparents built a kit house in Enterprise, Kansas, in the 1920s. Bungalow style. It's still there but I didn't get a good look at it several years ago when we drove through town. I told my kids that people could once order a complete home from a catalog and it boggled their minds.

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