| People build houses all the time, but for a few decades during the early part of the last century, a powerful company threw its weight behind the idea that one need only assemble them from a kit.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., the legendary retailer that has lately fallen on hard times, was basically the Amazon of its day. Using a catalog that ran hundreds of pages, people in big cities and small towns alike could order up watches, clothes, appliances, medicines, cars, and even house kits.
Back in 1913, someone put up one of those houses at Silver and Pine. Over 100 years later, Huning Castle residents (and Alert Readers) Hal and Kyrie Stillman spent the better part of the summer and fall sprucing it up for sale.
“It’s a COVID project,” Hal said. “We wanted to fix this house up for the next 100 years.”
That was no easy task. Besides the usual updating challenges, the house had accumulated a great deal of historic detritus, including four separate phone wires, a nob and tube electrical system, and all manner of extraneous piping.
“This was so decrepit – I can’t even begin to tell you,” Hal said.
But months of tender loving care have paid off (see more photos in the Zillow listing here). It stands today as a thoroughly modern house, but one which nods to its history, right down to the original doorbell (video).
“Not totally restored, just renewed,” Hal said. |
