Kit Homes in South Hampton Roads

By Troy Valos, SMC Special Collections Librarian. June 2023.

South Hampton Roads during the early twentieth century experienced a building boom and cities like Norfolk continued to expand into the Tanner's Creek District portion of Norfolk County. Most of these land developers were local entities that used kit houses to make the building of the homes quicker and relatively painless. These kit houses could and were customized due to the house buyers' preference or limitations of the lot where the structure was going to be built on.

This page offers links to selective resources that will assist in finding information about kit houses.

Virginia Department of Historic Resources commissioned a survey in 2006 where William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research conducted research into the type of kit houses used in southeastern Virginia. Below is the title and link to the report:

William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research. THE KIT HOUSE IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA: Architectural Documentation of Kit Houses Manufactured by Sears, Roebuck and Company Located within the Cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach, Virginia Williamsburg, VA, 2006. www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VA-68_Sears_Kit_Houses_2006_Report.pdf

The section below contains links to broader resources that contains information about kit homes and digitized resources like catalogs:

Informational sites:

How to Identify a Kit House (University of Maryland) - https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=327170&p=2195425

Kit House Identification (Historic New England) - https://kithouses.org/topic/identification/

InspectAPedia, "Guide to Kit Houses & Homes" - https://inspectapedia.com/Design/Kit_Houses.php

Wikipedia for "Kit Houses" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kit_house

Antique Home Style - https://www.antiquehomestyle.com/index.htm

Digitized Magazines, Journals, etc.:

American Builder - https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=amerbuilder

American Carpenter and Builder - https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=amercarpbuil

Sources with Digitized House Catalogs and Other Publications:

Link to digitized kit home catalogs at Internet Archive: Architecture, Domestic--United States--Designs and plans--Catalogs

Catalogs Online: Sears, Radford, Gordon-Van Tine - https://www.searshouseseeker.com/2015/07/catalogs-online-sears-radford-gordon.html

Click on each company's entry to see the resources associated with it.

Aladdin Company of Bay City

Informational Sites:

Aladdin Kit Homes - https://www.antiquehomestyle.com/plans/aladdin/index.htm

Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University - Aladdin Company of Bay City Records

University of Pennsylvania - https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=aladdincat

Sources with Digitized House Catalogs and Other Publications:

Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University - Aladdin Catalogs

HathiTrust - Aladdin Company

Internet Archive:

Aladdin Company

North American Construction Company

Gordon - Van Tine Company

Sources with Digitized House Catalogs and Other Publications:

Internet Archive - Gordon Van Tine Co.

Montgomery Ward

Informational sites:

Montgomery Ward records, 1849-1989, MSS 08088, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming. https://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv470617