There's a Sears House (a PERFECT Fullerton) that'll soon be torn down in Washington, DC. It's OWNED by the National Parks Service...you know, those wonderful folks who write the historic preservation briefs??

http://www.lostlandmarks.org/jbhouse.html

If anyone has any fresh ideas on how to save this AMAZINGLY original 1925-built foursquare, I'd love to hear it.

The house is in wonderfully good condition, despite the fact that it hasn't been maintained for 40 years (and still has the original half-round galvanized gutters). Try not maintaining a McMansion for four decades and see what you end up with.

It pains my soul to see this place go down. It's just so wrong.

Rose
author, The Houses That Sears Built

That's a real shame. The photo makes it seem that there's really not too much wrong with the house. A little TLC (probably tens of thousands of dollars) would get it back up to snuff. I hope it does not get demolished. I'll try to write to the people in charge and tell them to please stop.

Regards,
Eric

Hello Rose,
Yes it is a shame that a piece of history should go by the wayside but, the way people of today are is anything but nostalgia and they probably feel that it is not worth their money to restore it or someone has an ulterior motive for getting rid of it.The only thing that can be done is for a group of citizens in that area to put up a fuss about it and try to get it on the National register of historic places.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

The house is really in wonderful condition. It has original siding (that good old Cypress siding that Sears sold) and original Stratford door hardware and even original doors and windows.

What is especially troubling is that this house is OWNED by the government!! Sigh.

If anyone knows anyone with pull in DC, please implore them to save this house!

Rose

What would it cost to move the house to CA? My wife and I are looking to build a fairly accurate rendition of a 20's foursquare in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Originally, Sears shipped these houses to all 48 states, so maybe we can arrange to have it disassembled and shipped to California!!!

Actually, in Schoper, IL (neighbor to Carlinville, IL which has the 152 Sears Homes), when that mining community was done with their 12 Sears Homes, they DISASSEMBLED THEM, put them BACK INTO BOX CARS and shipped them out.

SO, there is a precedent for turning these homes back into kits and shipping them along to the next town.

And there's a legend floating around about a woman who disassembled a Sears Amsterdam (big Dutch Colonial) and has it in storage until she can figure out what to do with the house.

So maybe your idea of shipping it to California isn't so far fetched!!??

Rose