During its heyday in the 20th century, Sears, Roebuck and Co. was a well-known mail order catalog and department store that sold everything from dolls and apparel to household appliances and furniture.
That’s not all. The retail giant also was a purveyor of DIY “kit” homes, shipped in precut components that buyers or their contractors could assemble on location. More than 70,000 such dwellings were constructed across the U.S. from 1908 to 1942 when Sears discontinued the line.
Not only were these prefab homes affordable for their time—initially costing as little as $700—they were sturdy and high quality. An estimated 70% are still standing today (Arlington County has more than 100), and the vintage structures remain quite popular among a small but fervent niche of homebuyers.
Colin Uckert is one such enthusiast. “I lived in Lyon Village for a little while, right across the street from a Sears kit house,” says the local real estate attorney. “The home was a bungalow. The size was proportionate to the small lots in Arlington. It had a welcoming front porch and a dormer.”
Uckert was driving around Arlington’s historic Maywood neighborhood in 2021 when he stumbled upon a Sears “Wexford” model (a plan the company later renamed “Bridgeport” in an effort to boost sales). The house had originally been built as a five-room rambler with one bathroom.
There was something familiar about it that, for Uckert, evoked feelings of nostalgia.
“It was built in 1932, which is about the time my grandfather built the house where my dad grew up in Suffolk County, New York,” he says. “My father did not grow up in a Sears kit house, but it looked an awful lot like this one.”
The Maywood home was in bad shape, covered with overgrown ivy and filled with possessions left behind by a previous owner who may or may not have been a hoarder. Looking past the detritus, Uckert pictured a makeover that included an addition, a modern-size primary suite, two bedrooms with a Jack-and-Jill bathroom, fiber cement exterior siding and new dormers.
Those dreams were soon met with the realities of renovating in a historic district, where all exterior materials and architectural alterations must be approved by a review board dedicated to preserving the character of the neighborhood. Uckert assembled a team to navigate the (potentially) arduous review process: architect Matt Lee, of Lee Design Studio in Falls Church, to clarify his ideas; and Arjay West of West Homes in Arlington, to execute them.
In this case, the renovation plans required the blessing of the Arlington Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB), which maintains guidelines for exterior details and expects architects to build what they have submitted in the plans.
“I’ve worked in multiple preservation areas…but I hadn’t worked in Maywood,” Lee says. “Each [historic preservation board] is a little different, but each one is the same, too. They’re trying to make something beautiful. They don’t care about the cost, and they want to be part of the design.”
Lee recalls one point in the process when Uckert fell in love with a front door whose design differed slightly from the drawings that had been presented to the HALRB. Because the new door had a different number of lites (panes of glass) than the drawing, the plans had to be resubmitted.
There were other hurdles. Lee conceptualized the rear addition that Uckert wanted to build and got approval from the HALRB, but a neighbor objected to the garage aspect of the design once the plans went before the county board of zoning appeals. So Uckert ditched the addition and put the focus on the original home.
Sears homes, per their reputation, can weather almost any storm, says remodeler West, and this one, cosmetic issues aside, was fundamentally in good shape. “The house had seen better days, but it was clear to us that the people who had built the home cared deeply and knew what they were doing,” West says. “The foundation of the house was nearly perfect. The main ridge beam looked unscathed, despite its considerable age.”
Structurally, the team kept the house mostly intact, although they removed a poorly designed 1980s addition, reducing the home’s square footage from 3,000 to 2,100. A reconfigured lower level now contains a bedroom, bathroom, exercise room and 400-bottle wine cellar. The main level features a renovated kitchen and living room with vaulted ceilings, decorative cedar beams and an exposed brick wall.
The floor plan on the main level remains largely faithful to the original, with a primary suite, second bedroom and bathroom, although Lee opened things up and introduced a spiral staircase that starts in the basement and ends in a new loft space with an office overlooking the kitchen.
A new courtyard patio and a screened porch (not shown) provide welcome spaces to enjoy the weather. “It’s still a really cool representation of this historic house,” Lee says.
Energy efficiency was an important goal in the renovation, so the team focused on improving the exterior walls and the systems. The HALRB nixed Uckert’s request to swap the painted brick exterior for fiber cement siding, but spray foam insulation helps maintain the house’s internal comfort.
A geothermal heat pump system buried beneath the yard uses the constant temperature underground to help heat and cool the house. Uckert, who lives in the home with his girlfriend, Leigh Ann Jackson, says his monthly heating and cooling bill is now around $5.
Architecturally, the home’s window style was almost a sticking point. At the start of the project in 2022, HALRB guidelines required historically accurate single-pane wood windows, which are not as energy efficient as newer products on the market.
“As we began construction, the HALRB amended the guidelines to allow for double-pane windows,” West says. “This was a game changer for us. Double-pane windows maintained the historical integrity of the home while making the windows optimal for occupant comfort and energy efficiency.”
In the end, the renovation is a handsome mixture of old and new elements. Green and copper accents—a combo reminiscent of old pubs—and 1920s-style black-and-white tiles hearken back to the home’s past, while its high ceilings, built-in lighting and energy-saving features bring it well into the present.
“It’s vintage,” Lee says, “but we’ve got some modern touches.”
Nigel F. Maynard is a writer and DIY remodeler based in historic Hyattsville, Maryland. Follow him on Instagram @products_hound and @custom_home_hacker.