Is it or is it Not a Sears Ellison Model in Evendale?

Originally published by Laraine Shape on August 15, 2014

 

I vote yes. It’s just too close not to be. Naysayers be damned.

The Sears Ellison model. Also known as Modern Home Model 3359A featuring a grand front porch, large living room with exposed ceiling beams, kitchen, dining and 2 bedrooms on the main level with an option to finish 2 more bedrooms and a bath upstairs when the need arises. Originally sold for between $2185 to $2845.

Here’s the Sears catalog Ellison and the home at 4038 Glendale Milford Rd. You tell me. Is it a match?

The Evendale Ellison was built in 1940 according to the Hamilton County Auditor. This would have put it right at the tail end of Sears’ home building involvement. Another neat, sweet Sears house to add to the Cincinnati Sears house list.

Dining room bump out on the left is right

Everything looks good on this side, too.

Hamilton County Auditor sketch

Comments from original post

Lara August 16, 2014 at 11:52 am– If you’re asking, I would say it is one. Great catch–I never even knew what an Ellison was until today!

Laraine Shape August 17, 2014 at 10:36 am– Thanks, Lara. I think so too. Living in Cincinnati is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to find.

Donna Bakke August 19, 2014 at 12:54 pm– I have my doubts and here is why. The chimney on the catalog picture is at the edge of the house. The chimney on the real house is in the middle of that back room. Do we know how the footprints compare??

Laraine Shape August 19, 2014 at 1:50 pm– Donna – I had that exact same consideration at first about the Chimney. But if you look at the Ellison plan and where the fireplace is, the chimney
on the real house is in the exact right place (in the living room). Also, the footprint is extremely close from what I can see. I just posted it above. I can’t imagine what else it would be. I’m not aware of any Ellison copycat plans.

Christina Camacho August 23, 2014 at 5:01 pm– My grandparents built a Sears Ellison in State College, Pennsylvania, in about 1933. They altered the plan by shrinking it 1 ½ feet, and putting a regular ceiling in the living room, giving them a storage room above it. In addition, the fireplace was on the outside wall facing the side of the house, and where
the fireplace is pictured on the floor plan shown, they had their piano. They built it with the upper floor finished. There was a door in the dining room that opened onto the terrace. The garage was under the dining room, and the washing machine was originally in the basement. After Grandpa died, Grandma remodeled the kitchen to buy all new appliances and put the washer and dryer in the kitchen along the wall next to the refrigerator opposite the window. It was Grandma’s dream house. The interior walls at least in the living room and front hallway, were stucco. I loved that house, too. The people who bought it from my grandmother in 1966 still live there as far as I know. They turned the terrace into a greenhouse and turned the small living room window that originally looked out on the terrace into another door. The exterior walls had a lot of local fieldstone in them. This one pictured here looks like a clapboard version of my grandmother’s house.

Laraine Shape August 28, 2014 at 7:53 pm– Wow! What a great story, Christina. Thanks for sharing. More evidence of Sears’ willingness to modify plans to suit their buyers needs/wants. I love it. Do you happen to remember the address of the house? I’d love to see it on Google maps.

 

 

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Meet the Pretty Little Plum on Church Street in Mason – A Sweet Sears Argyle Model

Originally published by Laraine Shape on July 16, 2014

Meet the sweet little Sears Argyle on Church St. in Mason

Imagine knocking on a total stranger’s door and having them invite you in, be happy to see you, show you around their home, open their closet doors and make you feel as welcome as a long lost friend. That’s what happened to me when I knocked on Sherry Williams’ original Sears Roebuck door at 112 Church Street in Mason.

It was such a treat that when I left I felt as if I had spent the afternoon in a day spa getting rubbed, plucked, waxed and pampered. Speaking of which, guess what my new found friend does for a living? She’s the VP of Client Relations at Mitchell’s Salon and Day Spa. (I hope her boss knows how lucky he is to have her)

Her home is a perfect example of the Sears Argyle model, one of my absolute favorites and one of Sears’ top ten most popular models. And no wonder. It’s a sweet 2 bedroom with beamed ceilings, built ins on either side of the living room fireplace, a bookcase colonnade entry to the dining room and so much more.  Sears billed this little plum as a home that “Makes its owners proud.”

And the one Sherry found and purchased less than two years ago is the kind we Sears house aficionados dream of getting the opportunity to see. It’s still in near perfect shape, from head to toe. What a lucky find for her. Not only did she get a great deal on it, she grew up across the street from it!

Sherry’s Argyle still has its original built ins, beamed ceiling, colonnades, doors, hardware, wavy glass windows, kitchen cabinet with flour bin (my camera battery went dead before I got a picture of it!!), claw foot tub, medicine cabinet, bedroom cubby hole, hardwood floors, shake siding, window flower boxes and garage doors!

According to Sherry, her Argyle was built in 1924 by the Wiseman family, owners of the Wiseman Chicken Farm in Mason (the old metal roofed chicken coop still stands within a stone’s throw and has been converted to apartments).

Thank you, Sherry for sharing. And thank you for being such a sweetheart. No wonder you have such good fortune.

Be Still My Heart! Is That What I Think it is?? The Illusive Sears Preston in Hartwell?

Originally published by Laraine Shape on July 11, 2014

Rare Sears Preston Model at 59 Woodsdale Ave., Hartwell, Ohio

Can I share a little secret with you? I nearly fainted when I turned my head and saw this house from my car window tonight, sitting there just as prim and elegant as it could be. It was like seeing a ghost. A good ghost, mind you. I actually gasped.

Fellow Sears house aficionado, Cindy Catanzaro, told me that there was supposedly a rare Sears Preston in Wyoming (right next door to Hartwell) so I set out to find it. About a hundred times. Every time I went out in search of Wyoming Sears houses, I looked for it. And I came back empty handed, every single time. I found lots of other Sears houses in Wyoming, but not the rare and illusive Preston. It was like hunting for a rare, white orchid.

After driving up and down every street in Wyoming, asking staff at the Wyoming Historical Society and showing photos of the Preston to long time Wyoming residents, I threw in the towel and decided it must be a figment of someone’s imagination. (like the Sears 123 model that was allegedly built in Sharonville which eludes me).

Until tonight. And here, at long last, is the Sears Preston located at 59 Woodsdale Ave. in Hartwell. The icing on the cake would be a glimpse of the inside. Wow. Thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Stay tuned. You just never know when you’re going to get lucky.

 

Rare Sears Preston Model at 59 Woodsdale Ave., Hartwell, Ohio

Rare Sears Preston Model at 59 Woodsdale Ave., Hartwell, Ohio

Hamilton Co Auditor’s sketch