i posted this as the bungalow of the day for may 2, but also wanted to post it here to make sure rose sees it.

i first saw this from the rigth side coming down the street and immediately thought osborn. i drove past to park and looked back at the left side and just stared.

the expected side porch detail is there, but the expansion bewteen what would have been the porch and the front facade really threw me.

any thoughts?

http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1915-1920/1918_2050.jpg
it certainly looks to be inspired by an osborne.

do you think it was ordered as an osborn and modified locally, or custom revisions by sears designers?

i'm sure it was originally built this way and not a latter addition.

i also like the tile roof...

i think i will post all the osborns (or son's of osborns) i have found here in one album for comparision.

it seems a lot of work and money to order a kit home and modify it locally to that extent. my guess is someone liked the design and built his version or had it built for him. custom revision by sears?,i highly doubt it but that would be roses' call.

Wow, what a house!! Yes, Sears did offer customization of their designs and it seems that about 30 - 50% of Sears Homes were customized to some degree.

In fact, there are Sears Homes out there that bear little resemblance to their original catalog design because they were customized so extensively when first built. A man in Illinois told me a story about how his mother liked the top half of one house and the bottom half of another. She cut up a Sears Modern Homes catalog, taking the roofline of one house and taping it to the bottom of another house design. She sent her new creation into Sears and asked, "can you send me this house?"

They replied, "Sure can!"

And we've also seen Sears Homes that are a blending of two different designs.

Rebecca Hunter found a Sears Home that was half-Osborn, half-Walton. I've seen a house that was half-Fullerton and half-Alhambra. And there's an Ardara in Zanesville, Ohio with a Crescent porch. You get the idea.

My initial reaction on this Osborn (shown here) is that it was remodeled in later years. It's not a good looking change to the house and if original owners wanted more space, there would have been more attractive ways to increase the square footage than this growth that's been globbed onto the side. Ick.

Just my thoughts.

Rose Thornton
author, The Houses That Sears Built