A huge thanks to Dale!! His diligent search reveals that our house is indeed a Gordon Van Tine, not Ward's. He tells me that few GVT's have ever been identified...we are thrilled just to know what it is that we have!! I intend to keep up with this forum as there are so many informative threads to follow..not sure I'll ever get all of them read. at Dale's suggestion, I'm sending the catalog scan he sent me, along with a 1917 photo of our house and also one I took today. THANK YOU DALE!!!!
PS And it looks like I'll have to send 2 other messages so you can see the 1917 and the 2006 photos....sorry!
Here's the photo we found in my mother-in-law's photos...she and my FIL moved into the house in 1951 when my husband was 2. This photo was taken in 1917.
and finally, I took this photo today. Obviously, additions have been made thru the years, but the original house still stands pretty much as it did when it was built. They did reverse the plans during construction. Also, the balcony railings were removed at some point, but my son plans to restore those eventually..after all it IS The Balcony House!! He has changed the floor plan some to accomodate a growing family but has maintained the intergrity (to the greatest degree)in the living room. The original staircase off the living had been enclosed in the late '50s and we're trying to figure out how it should look now...if anyone has any ideas, let me know. Half of the staircase is open and will need new handrail, spindles, brackets and a newel. We did have to replace the windows, with me fighting them every inch of the way...but they felt like energy efficiency was more important...however, the windows are stashed in the garage...just in case! Everyone in the family is estatic that we found our house!! Way to go Dale!
Yep, I've already been contacted (thru this forum) by a fellow catalog/kit home enthusiast who has a Sears house about 50 miles east of here! Be glad to post a couple of interior shots..this is the living after demolition and is almost ready for paint!!!
Gordon-VanTine has never been given the credit they deserve for the wonderful designs they offered such as this fantastic bungalow. The attention to detail is amazing in this plan book bungalow; the full width porch, interior millwork, cross-gable roof and that balcony!
[QUOTE]Originally posted by dakruff: A huge thanks to Dale!!........ He tells me that few GVT's have ever been identified...we are thrilled just to know what it is that we have!! THANK YOU DALE!!!!QUOTE]
I can't agree more! We've been on a quest for over two years to find the manufacturer/supplier of our home. I stumbled across this site earlier this year, and finally registered yesterday. I read that Dale was one of the resident experts so I thought it might be worth a try to see if he could possibly put us in contact with someone who could help identify our home. Well, we hit the jackpot with one single e-mail. Dale replied within hours telling us our house is, in fact, a GVT Model 712. He also sent a scanned page of the GVT Catalog showing our home and the floorplan. His knowledge and willingness to share the information is remarkable. Thank you Dale Wolicki! As I told you in the e-mail; you brought us Christmas in July!
