Everyone thinks that if a house was built from a kit, it was a Sears--well, there were a lot of other companies which sold kits at the same time, Montgomery Ward and Aladdin are just two of the larger ones.

For a kit house, the measurements would match exactly, not just be close...and a local builder might base his designs on plans from a kit, but make his own changes to suit the customer--in which case you have a kit-inspired house.

There were literally dozens of books which published house plans--which you then hired a contractor to build--and these were not kit houses.

Most of the kit companies were closed during the Depression, so 1927 is at the height of their trade, but even so, kit houses are still pretty thin on the ground except in a few cases where entire neighborhoods were built from them centered around a major factory complex.

Let us know what you find out--off the top of my head, I can't recall a kit design like yours--I'll have to check through my collection to be sure...but it is a very interesting house with Bungalow features!

Thanks for the response- I have looked through some of the old plans online for other kits as well but haven't come across anything close to this one. As you mention, the mix-in of Bungalow features makes it sort of unique.

Many of the lots in our part of the neighborhood were divided up and sold as partials, so they are much longer than they are wide. I suppose a floor plan like this would have been desirable for making the most of the lot size.

Still there is a story to be told, so I'll dig further. I've also searched local newspaper archives, not a lot about this house except one questionable death around 60 years ago! That story really helped matters one night when my son's toy piano started playing by itself.

Thanks,
Brian