The Sears Ardara

The Ardara has been chosen by many professional and business men because of its practical arrangement.

The Ardara from the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog

The Ardara was offered in the Sears Modern Homes catalogs from 1919 until 1930.  This one story home had some unique exterior features including the “graceful roof line” over the porch and arched trellises above the front windows.

The interior featured a music room (just off the living room), a dining room, a good sized kitchen (for a Sears House), two bedrooms and one full bath.

The home could be ordered with, or without, an attached garage.  I’ve seen lots of garages built into the basements of 1920’s Sears Homes, but for the most part, the garage would be sold as a separate structure.  And yes, there were kits for those, too.

Here’s the floor plan.

I doubt I would recognize an Ardara if that distinctive front porch was missing, but there are a few things you could look for to help with identification.  First, notice that the kitchen, at the rear of the house on the right side, is slightly bumped out from the main body of the home.  That’s a bit unusual.  Normally we see that bump out as the Dining Room in the center of the side wall.  Next, notice that the bathroom is in the back of the house.  With that design feature, the side window arrangement rarely changes over time.  If the bathroom is positioned along one side or the other, it is common to cover over the window when a shower is added, or the house is sided, later on.

I’ve seen a few Ardara models here in Ohio.  Here they are.

The first one I ever saw, isn’t a great one.  Somewhere along the way, many of the original features were removed, or covered over with vinyl siding.  And this one also had an evergreen tree planted right out front, which now pretty much obstructs any visual of the front of the house.

This one is documented with a mortgage record.  It’s really hard to say for sure, but I think it is a reverse floor plan from the catalog image.  The kitchen bump out is visible on the left side of the house, but there is a small addition in front of that.  I’m not sure if it was built with a one car garage originally, or if the entire two car was added later.  Honestly, without the mortgage record, I would never have identified this house as an Ardara on a street survey.

A documented Sears Ardara at 1129 Beacon St., Springfield

 

The next one I saw for real, was pretty easy.  It’s not documented though.  While it retains the original front features, it has eyebrow windows added to the second floor that were never shown in the Sears catalogs.

Probable Sears Ardara, 2735 Minot Ave., Cincinnati (Oakley)

Here’s the right side showing the triple window in the dining room and the kitchen bump out.  A fireplace was added to the living room at time of construction.

Since this one was built without a garage, we can get an idea of what the window arrangement was like in the music room without that feature.

 

Another probable Ardara without a garage, but it looks like they put the fire place in the music room on this one.  Notice that the garage is in the basement.

Probable Sears Ardara, 5337 Carthage Ave., Cincinnati (Norwood)

This Ardara has the kitchen bump out on the right side.

 

Here’s my last one for this post.  It is documented with a mortgage record.   You know what to look for by now.

Documented Sears Ardara, 3720 Benninghofen Ave., Hamilton

 

In case you are interested in the catalog details, here they are.

If you see a house like this in your area, please let me know.

Thanks for following along.