The Sears Ashmore in Cincinnati (Clifton)

In 1916, Sears Roebuck and Co. introduced a new model.  The No. 264P250.  I know!  How exciting!  Everybody would want one of those!

Good thing a year or so later, Sears would give all their house plans a name, instead of a long pesky number.  The No.264P250 would become

The Ashmore

The Ashmore was a stunning Craftsman style Bungalow with loads of interior details.  Because of all the included built ins and features, it was also one of Sears more expensive models.

The Clifton area in Cincinnati is home to the only Sears Ashmore I have seen in person. It was built in 1924, the last year it was offered in the Sears Modern Home catalog.

Sears Ashmore at 586 Terrace Ave., Cincinnati OH

This Ashmore was originally identified in the early 1990’s by Beatrice Lask on her thesis “Sears Houses in Cincinnati”.

I’m sure somebody must have known about it before then, but without Bea Lask and her list, I most likely would never have had the chance to see it.  It was nice to stop by one day last winter and get my very own photos while it was simply dressed for the Holidays.

Sears Ashmore at 586 Terrace Ave., Cincinnati OH

Sears Ashmore at 586 Terrace Ave., Cincinnati OH

In most cases, I can only make an educated guess about the authenticity of the Sears Houses I have seen, because documenting is a difficult process.  Usually you have to get inside the house to verify the floor plan or look for Sears markings on framing lumber.  Sometimes the owner will have information that confirms a find, and will be happy to share that with me.  In this case, I was fortunate enough to find a County record that confirms the building materials for this home came from Norwood Sash and Door, a Sears owned company at the time, so this home is an authenticated Sears Kit House.

I picked today to feature The Ashmore, because earlier this afternoon, another Sears Ashmore was located.  Well, we are hoping it’s a real Sears Ashmore.  Like I said, without documentation, we just can’t be sure, because most Sears Modern Home designs were also found in popular pattern books of the times.

And I said “we”, because it was a group effort to locate it.  Myself and some other Sears House lovers chat daily in a small group on Facebook.  We share photos, check out houses we find in real estate listings, and compare notes on other resources we come across.  It’s a fun little group, full of people who work together and have fun at the same time.  We’re friends.

Today, one of our newest members was scouting out a new area of Detroit on Google maps, and came across what he thought might be a Sears Hollywood model.  He posted a link to our little group so we could all have a look and give opinions.

As I was checking it out, I noticed it was close to the corner, so I turned my Google car down the side street to see if I could get a look at the back. I went too far and as I was getting ready to turn around, I saw this.

It looked familiar, so I Google drove around to the front.

Yep, sure looks like a Sears Ashmore.  Other members of our group are also pretty certain that’s what it is.  A little more digging and a group member came up with a build date of 1916 for this one, the first year it was offered in the Sears catalog.

Yet another member of our little group maintains a wonderful on-line collection of Kit House and Plan Book house catalogs, and was happy to supply some additional images of the interior of The Ashmore from the 1916 catalog.

And Sears Roebuck and Co would have been happy to sell you all those additional furnishings for your new Sears Modern Home – The Ashmore.

If you would like to see the rest of the 1916 Sears Modern Home catalog, here is a link to get you there.  The entire catalog can be seen on the Flicker set that is shown from this link.

http://www.antiquehome.org/House-Plans/1916-Sears/

To see more information about the Sears Ashmore in Michigan click here

http://kithousehunters.blogspot.com/2015/08/sears-ashmore-in-highland-park-michigan.html

Advertisements