How did people go about building a house in the 1930s – in the days before cell phones and computers and the Internet? Where would you get the plans? How would you write the contract? How would you specify each of the components, from studs and siding to doors and windows to footings and insulation? And how would you track the expenses for each supplier and each part, down to sashes and hinges and locks?
Thanks to the kindness of the Van Dyke family, we have the 1938 contract and associated specifications for the construction of the house at 5 North Lanning Avenue in Hopewell Borough, which provides us a detailed view into house construction of the time.
== View the 1928 House Construction Papers for 5 North Lanning ==
Sears House
The North Lanning house was based on a Sears catalog design, but was constructed locally, with local materials, and with a customized plan. As a result, it is not a Sears catalog kit house, unlike several other Sears houses in Hopewell Borough.
In particular, the right front of the structure was expanded to add a sitting room off the living room. There also now is a sun porch addition on the left side.
The house was specified in the 1938 contract as a “bungalow known as The Wilmore.” This was a reference to the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Modern Homes catalog, which included the Wilmore model (#3327), described as “a five-room bungalow type design” with one bath.
The Wilmore was 38 ft. wide and 24 ft. deep, designed with an “economical” and “compact” plan to allow it to be built on a 45-foot lot. The design had pairs of triangular roofs projecting on the side and the front, and therefore “requires many pieces of material cut to special miter and detail.”
The Sears catalog price for the Wilmore model was $1314 for the base house. The price went up to around $1970 with optional add-ons including plumbing for $171-208, hot water heating for $285, electric wiring for $60, electric fixtures for $30, window shades for $17, screens for $63, and storm sashes for $41. You then could build the kit yourself, or hire a contractor.
Sears Modern Homes were prefabricated house kits sold through Sears, Roebuck and Company’s mail-order catalogs between 1908 and 1940, and delivered by rail. The package included blueprints, all materials (delivered to your local train station), and free advisory service for “all home building problems.” (See SearsHouses.com)
The kit materials were “Cut and Fitted, Ready for its Place,” and all equipment was pre-built: “Medicine Cases, Kitchen Cabinets, Kitchen Cupboards, Telephone Stand, Ironing Boards, Breakfast Alcove, China Closets, Bookcases. All window and door frames cut, fitted and bundled. Doors mortised for locks.”
== View the full 1938 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Modern Homes Catalog ==
The Contract
The North Lanning house was built over the summer of 1938 for Edna Van Dyke, who moved with her sister from the family farm up Louellen Street. The builder was Richard E. Reed.
The contract document is a single typed page proposing to build the house for $5850. It is hand-annotated with signatures for the five payment milestones: cellar & first floor joists, enclosed with sheathing & roof, rough plumbing & plastering, finished floor, and final completion.
Work started in mid-May and was completed at the end of September. The contract paperwork includes a series of extras and credits described on a second typed page that added $143.98 to the total. The individual parts also are more fully itemized on a second handwritten page.
In the 1950s, Richard E. Reed was a partner in the firm of Reed & Hullfish, as general contractors doing “Residential, Commercial & Industrial Building Construction.” In 1951, they won the contract to construct an addition to the Hopewell Presbyterian Church. This was the “Assembly Hall” and associated kitchen, 40 x 60 feet, to be built in six months for $49,566.09.
Specifications
The remaining seven pages of these papers are handwritten specifications detailing the components used for the job. These include the lumber for different uses, plus major elements including floors, roofs, windows and doors, and trim, plus electrical fixtures and outlets, insulation, footings and block walls, and exterior sidewalks.
There are additional details for the kitchen (closet, cabinets, sink, etc.), exterior grading, drains for the concrete floors, and the cesspool (concrete, 8 feet diameter and 7 feet deep).
Further details include specific parts for plumbing fixtures, the hot water heating system (boiler and radiators), attic stairs, sun porch, laundry tubs in the cellar, and a built-in ironing board “installed in kitchen where directed.”
The interior then was to be painted with three coats for the walls and exterior, and two coats for the basement floors.
== View the 1928 House Construction Papers for 5 North Lanning ==
== View the 1938 Sears, Roebuck & Co. Modern Homes Catalog ==
Please contact us if you have additional information on Hopewell area Sears houses, or other photos, documents, or information on local homes and places.
