Can you imagine building your entire house — including plumbing, electricity, and fixtures — out of a kit practically delivered to your doorstep?

Amazon Prime could never — but such was the experience for hundreds of thousands of American families in the early 1900s, when affordable mail-order kit homes started popping up across the country. Here's how a few of the most popular, commonly known as Sears kit homes, came to Indianapolis + where you can find them still standing today.

How Sears kit homes built a legacy

In 1908, in the midst of the mail-order catalog era, Sears, Roebuck, and Company issued the first Book of Modern Homes and Building Plans. The catalog listed 44 different styles of homes that ranged in sizes + price points that readers could purchase.

By 1916, these catalog homes came with every material that was needed to build the house — all the way down to pre-cut lumber, windows, paint, and an 80-page set of instructions.

Once a family chose the home style they wanted, all they had to do was mail a check to Sears and Roebuck — which even had financing options available, with payments as low as $35 per month — and a few weeks later, all of the parts would arrive by train. Sears was based in Chicago, making delivery to Indianapolis fairly quick + easy.

While Sears Modern Homes were very affordable, they weren’t cheaply constructed. According to Popular Mechanic, the homes came with high-end materials like oak floors + cypress ceilings. In 1918, popular models ranged in price from $3,600-4,600, which is roughly between $75,000 and $100,000 today. Additionally, the financing application didn’t ask demographic questions (such as ethnicity, gender, etc.), which provided home ownership options for those who might have otherwise faced discrimination locally.

While Sears advertised that the mail-order homes could be built in only 90 days with just basic skills, most families hired builders to get the job done.

The last catalogs were sent in 1940, and in these 32 years, some 75,000 Sears and Roebuck kit homes were purchased and built — predominantly through the Midwest and Northeast US.

A brick Sears kit home. — You can find this Indiana special brick veneer Dover at 3130 Chamberlin Dr. | Photo by Mitch Mowrer

Where can I see a Sears home in Indianapolis?

Please remember to respect owners' privacy and not trespass on private land. Huge thanks to Mitch Mowrer for helping us build out this list.

🏡 3130 Chamberlin Dr. | Built: 1928 | Style: Dover

🏡 39 S. St. | Built: 1930 | Style: Mitchell

🏡 5028 S. Walcott St. | Built: 1946 | Style: Maplewood

🏡 5708 Bluff Road | Built: 1939 | Style: Mansfield

🏡 3104 E. Edgewood Ave. | Built: 1929 | Style: Crescent

🏡 902 N. Campbell Ave. | Built: 1937 | Style: Unknown

If you're up for a road trip and want to see something really cool, South Bend is home to one of only seven existing "Magnolia" mansions, the most expensive Sears kit home ever offered with a footprint of 3,000 sqft. You can see the exterior at 325 W. North Shore Dr., or interior pictures from the last time it changed hands here.

The story of a local Sears kit home owner

Mitch Mowrer, who owns the Dover at 3130 Chamberlin Dr., said this of his home:

"I grew up in upstate New York, and it was really hard to find similar architecture on the southside of Indianapolis to what I grew up with. But I found this house in 2013 in Perry Township, where my wife and I are both teachers. It was in foreclosure and sitting abandoned. It may have become a little bit of an obsession early on, trying to track banks that owned it and trying to keep the windows boarded up when neighborhood kids would throw rocks at it, but the minute that it finally came up for sale in 2017, I nabbed it instantly.

It’s been a labor of love, but I tried to keep the layout exactly as it was in 1928. It still boasts its original woodwork, lathe and plaster walls, and clawfoot tub."

Help us build our directory

Identifying a Sears Modern Home can be difficult, especially since the company lost the majority of its records on the homes. However, there are a few key factors that help to identify them — including stamped lumber, shipping labels, and unique column arrangements.

Do you live in a Sears catalog home (or think that you do)? Or do you know of any other local Sears homes? Send us an email with your pictures, addresses, or stories.