Craftsman Cottage - Is This a Kit House?

This is such an interesting house.  Not quite a bungalow.  Not quite a traditional four square.  And it definitely has Craftsman elements.  But what is it really?

I've been chatting with Julie Larry, an architect who spent many years at Portland Landmarks and has an encyclopedic memory for architectural styles in the Greater Portland area.  Her first thought it this could possibly be a kit house.  (Julie has a fascinating article about them on the Portland Landmarks site - you can read it here) 

What, you ask, is a kit house?  Well in the early 20th century, Sears Roebuck sold kit houses by mail order.  You could order the kit and they would send it to you - staged over time to match your building schedule.  Reading through their 1925 catalog is fascinating.  You could imagine a lot of these advertisements updated for today with modular homes!

These homes included everything.  You could choose your hardware, plumbing fixtures, lighting, heating system, etc.  

I've seen so many houses with the 'Stratford Design' doorknobs!

I went page by page through their old catalogs, but haven't found a house that matches yet.  But there were multiple companies that offer kit homes, so it's still possible.

The best way to see if you have a kit house is to look at the joists in the house itself.  Typically, they had numbers stamped on them, usually 2-10 inches from the end.  Our house currently has plaster/drywall covering the joists, but once we get that removed, I can't wait to see if there are some numbers stamped there!

So stay tuned as we start a little investigation!  One clue that just popped up is our stained glass window.  A friend's son has a Craftsman home in Massachusetts with the exact same stained glass window as ours!  Is that a key element?  Not sure, but it's interesting to know there are others like it in New England.

And interestingly, you can still buy kit houses today.  Look at these available on Amazon - Kit House. 

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