The night we moved in, we took out the flashlights and went searching for kit home evidence on the basement joists. We had only heard of Sears up until this point, but figured we didn't have a Mitchell b/c of the flaired eaves. Photo of house Cross referencing typical company markings against the ususal suspects, we summized we had a GVT Kent, although we couldn't find anyway to reference the Aladdins. (Thanks to the info on gordonvantine.com!)

A year later, we have further proof? While winterizing the front windows yesterday, we found the following stamped on the inner jams between windows: From: Montgomery Ward and Co. Davenport, IA 15817/Water W. Wells, Princeton Junction, N.J. PO - New York, NY 463-W EST ST

As far as discussion points/questions for ya'll:
1) Does this mean it's a Wardway or the GVT, or a nothing? I like my bragging to be accurate. :-) I'm assuming the IA stamp means it was build by GVT as part of their arrangement with Ward.

2)How can we go about finding/good copies of original components so we can fix-er-up right?

3)What year was this most likely from? The previous owners say 1929, but our purchase appraisal lists 1940...

Thanks!

Welcome TeamJV,

The house looks like a GVT "Patrician" or a Wardway "Newport" to me.



Here is a link to some interiors from GVT for the year of this catalog: Gordon Van Tine Interiors, and light fixtures from the era from Wards and GVT: Gordon Van Tine Lighting.

Lauren

Your house is a Wardway Newport, offered between 1929 and 1931. Gordon-VanTine manufactured the house but it was a Montgomery-Ward order, thus the "Montgomery-Ward Davenport Iowa" shipping label. Houses ordered directly from GVT will have "Gordon-VanTine Davenport Iowa" shipping labels.

Although it was offered only briefly, the Newport was very popular. Sadly all the records of Wardway and GVT are long gone so your renovations will have to be based on the catalog illustrations. I'm sure viewers of this website can offer their opinions on any renovation questions you have.

My co-author Rose "Sears Lady" Thornton and I are working on the final edit of a book about Wardway Homes and we may add a website. Don't be surprised if sometime in the future you see us out in front of your house taking pictures the next time we are in New Jersey!

When, Dale, WHEN is th book coming out? You keep taunting us and teasing us and I still don't have a book to study up on Wardway homes - who knows how many are lurking here in Cincinnati, just awaiting discovery!

Donna

how can you tell the difference between this and the sears mitchell and stratford?

they seem very similar.

thanks

The Sears Mitchell, The Aladdin University, and MontWard Newport/GVT Patrician are all identical except

1) the MontWard/GVT has a small square window on the side elevation of the front cross-gable that looks out on the patio.

2) the MontWard/GVT model has a faux round top door; the upper part is actually a half-circle panel (thanks to Sears Homes authority Rebecca Hunter for this tip). We have seen, however. this model with true round-top doors

3) the MontWard/GVT model is the only model with flared eaves but occassionaly the builder eliminated this detail.

I'm with Donna, Dale.Can't wait for the new book by you and Rosemary to come out. I don't know if there are any Wardway Homes here in the San Antonio area, but it's possible. There's an Aladdin Shadowlawn sitting on the IH-35 North access road up from New Braufels.In Mcqueeny was a Sears house until they moved it someplace, and in Cibolo is a home from Fred T.Hodgson. There's a Radford stone bungalow in Spring Branch, and George F.Barber homes in Gonzales and Waelder, so maybe we have some Wards homes too.

Hilda, I live in Seguin just down the street from Soechting Motors a couple blocks south of Kingsbury (Alt 90). The area between Court Street (south) and Kingsbury (north), and King (east) and Guadalupe (west) has a LOT of old houses, many of them bungalows that look like some of the ones posted here. Some are in bad shape, but others have either already been rehabbed or are in progress. Next time you're close, it might be worth 30 minutes to just drive that whole area...

While out and about, I try to drive different streets just to see what's gone for sale, sold, or is having work done. Our house isn't a bungalow, but it IS old, and it DID need a lot of work.

kc

Hey Donna,

This new book of ours on Wardway Homes has proven to be infinitely more work than we originally imagined. I keep telling Dale that when it's done, it'll become a reference work that'll be around long after we're gone from this spherical plane!

Dale has done a fantastic amount of work on the book and has cleaned up old graphics and inserted lots of great photos. It's going to be a real treasure. And it's a hefty tome, too! Dozens of extant photos and hundreds of archival images.

We're down to the very last edits and doing some tweaking. It's my expectation that it'll be out very early in 2010.

Rose
www.uglywomansguide.com
author, The Houses That Sears Built