In the early 20th century, families across the US picked out new homes from catalogs as if they were shopping for clothes. They arranged financing, sent in their order form, and received their new abode in 30,000 pieces — assembly required, nails + screws not included.
Sears, Roebuck & Co. was the leader in mail-order kit homes, offering dozens of design plans until its Sears Modern Home division folded in 1940. Another popular company in the business, Aladdin Company, had a factory in what’s now the Kenton neighborhood and operated into the 1950s.
Mail-order houses are undoubtedly part of Portland’s architectural heritage, but it’s not easy to know if you’re looking at one. Kit homes were well made, oftentimes outlasting their conventional counterparts, and they came in many styles — like the popular American Foursquare found across Portland today.
This is where you come in. If you live in a mail-order home, we’d love to see a photo of it (bonus points for including a bit about its history) and potentially share it in a future newsletter.
Stamped lumber is a clue that your home might be a mail-order house; pieces like this one from a Sears kit were stamped to help builders assembly them in the proper order.
Photo by Rosemary Thornton
Here are some tips for determining whether your residence is one such gem:
- Talk to your neighbors — if they’ve been around a long time, they might have a piece of oral history they’ve held on to over the years.
- Does your house have a twin on the same street? Have you seen one nearly identical elsewhere in the city? If so, there’s a good chance they were built from kits.
- Browse digitized catalog images from Sears, Roebuck & Co., Aladdin Company, Fenner Manufacturing Company, and others.
- Multnomah County Library offers access to historical maps with building details for cardholders.
- Search your address on PortlandMaps to learn what year it was built, zoning + more.
