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A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

searshouseseeker.com

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Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#21

Post by opencl »

doomlaser wrote: post #10

Love the original catalog index of homes. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm You can click on the pictures to see the original home ads in the Sears catalog, with prices (e.g. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1908-1914/1911_011... ) $1062 for the parts to a beautiful American Craftsman style bungalow ($34,394.38 adjusted for inflation)! Some assembly required :) On a tangential note: Sears kill…

You can still buy house plans and bundles of parts similar to what Sears used to offer, Menards sells them.

Home Depot also has some prefab units but they're all very small.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#22

Post by rawgabbit »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

Dallas’ unofficial motto is “Keep Dallas Boring”.

This is our strategy to hide from real estate speculators and homeless millionaires from California.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#23

Post by rawgabbit »

doomlaser wrote: post #10

Love the original catalog index of homes. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm You can click on the pictures to see the original home ads in the Sears catalog, with prices (e.g. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1908-1914/1911_011... ) $1062 for the parts to a beautiful American Craftsman style bungalow ($34,394.38 adjusted for inflation)! Some assembly required :) On a tangential note: Sears kill…

To buy an equivalent house like the ones in Sears catalog in a desirable neighborhood can easily set you back half a million.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#24

Post by wolfendin »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

It was a particular housing development and not a whole city AFAIK, but what first comes to mind is Hollywood(land)

https://www.theeastsideagent.com/history-hollywoodland-story...

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#25

Post by waveBidder »

rawgabbit wrote: post #23
doomlaser wrote: post #10

Love the original catalog index of homes. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/1908-1914.htm You can click on the pictures to see the original home ads in the Sears catalog, with prices (e.g. http://www.searsarchives.com/homes/images/1908-1914/1911_011... ) $1062 for the parts to a beautiful American Craftsman style bungalow ($34,394.38 adjusted for inflation)! Some assembly required :) On a tangential note: Sears kill…

To buy an equivalent house like the ones in Sears catalog in a desirable neighborhood can easily set you back half a million.

> in a desirable neighborhood

land value =/=house price

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#26

Post by bitwize »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

Every time I hear "Chicagoland", I think of the douchebag television exec from Wayne's World played by Rob Lowe.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#27

Post by ShadowBanThis01 »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and nobody says "Chicagoland" in conversation. It's only used by newscasters, and car dealers in their commercials.

Even dumber is "Chicagoland area."

My copyediting professor (who worked at the Chicago Tribune) loved to mock this dumb term, pointing out that nobody says "Detroitland" or "New Yorkland" or "Indianapolisland."

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#28

Post by mighmi »

vsskanth wrote: post #3

I'm really impressed by how timeless these homes look even today. Why are kit homes not a thing today ? What replaced them ?

You can still buy kit homes today: https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/the-project-...

Construction permits and significantly increased regulation have made them difficult though. You get economies of scale not just in construction, but more importantly in permitting, electrical and sewer connections etc. Then consider than desirable urban areas are already built up leading to land costing much more than the structure.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#29

Post by prmoustache »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

Well hasn't the term chicagoland invented to sound like the Legoland theme park in the first place? I guess if another large city name was terminating with -ney its metropolitan area would also be called in a similar way.

Re: A trip to see Chicagoland Sears houses

#30

Post by drewcoo »

codelikeawolf wrote: post #20

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and I didn't realize how weird the term "Chicagoland" was until I started traveling around a bit. I'm not aware of any other city in the world that tacks "land" onto the name to describe the surrounding area. Do this with any other city and it sounds like a weird amusement park: Dallasland, Indianapolisland, Seattleland, etc.

Even Hollywoodland is just Hollywood now.
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