Who Designed My House?!? Was It a Kit House?

I am an architect by profession. Although the firm for which I am employed does not design single-family houses, I have designed a single-family house in the past. I might never design my own personal new-construction home from the ground up as some architects do, but I do have designs in my head for an upwards addition to this current home. I currently live in a 1920's bungalow of simple and unadorned design-- although I would pine for a slightly larger-scale home with superb Craftsman details. My wife and I both love the charm and history of older homes, if it wasn't painfully clear by the existence of this blog. Whether it's this home, or another, I may yet get to direct a large-scale renovation and/or addition of an older home for our family. I have patience in spades, so for now those designs in my head remain quelled. So, in my quest for the most thorough gathering of this home's history as I can muster, a natural question occurring to me and to any older home owner would be "Who Designed My House?" It's a question that, more often than not, may have no definitive answer.

Most Homes Aren't Architect-Designed

When one considers the traditional manner in which a trained architect would design a single-family residence, this historically has been a realm reserved for larger and more custom houses. A very large percentage of older American houses have no architect in the definition of that profession, but were rather fashioned by owners or builders using very prevalent folk and vernacular forms. This is especially true in pre-railroad days prior to the 1870's or so.

Even after the advent of the railroad system, when architectural styles became less regional and were adapted more swiftly at a wider geographical scale, designs from pattern books were heavily consulted and many owners purchased floor plans. Mail-order kit houses, such as those sold by Sears, became incredibly popular in the 1910's through 1930's. Either of these two methods meant that the house design was already prepared. According to Katherine Cole Stevenson and H. Ward Jandl in their book Houses By Mail, staff architects working for the company (in the case of Sears) prepared most of the kit house designs, however many were modifications of already prevalent styles and successfully-proven house designs. The same would generally be true of today's more prevalent "cookie-cutter" subdivisions erected by home-building companies.

If you are fortunate enough to own a larger older home, there is a better chance that its original owner commissioned its design by a professional architect. Regardless of whether or not your house is a good candidate for having been "architect-designed", it is worth a trip to your local municipality's building department or records office. There, you can inquire about the permit history for your property. You just might luck out and find an original building permit (although many of these records may no longer be in existence). If you are very lucky, you might find plans. Either the permit or the drawings would likely bear an architect's name, if there was one.

Who Designed My House?!?

So, we return to this question for my singular house. In my case, the question is as perplexing as determining which owner had my home built: Jayson Stover, Harry Renninger, or Andrew Gutekunst. Frankly, both questions might have the same answer. All three men owned this building lot separately between the relatively short span of May 1922 and October 1924. Stover was a carpenter, Renninger was a real estate broker/investor, and Gutekunst was a flooring contractor who had a known partnership with carpenter William Brosz. My prevailing theory is that the house was designed and built at the earlier portion of that span, in either 1922 or 1923, although any of these three men could have been its creator.

Some time ago, the previous owner who sold this house to us mentioned that he thought that this might be a "kit house", although I have yet to find any evidence supporting that. Aside from the fact that the location near the Ardsley train station makes delivery of a house kit a distinct possibility, I've yet to find any marking on joists or other original lumber and building materials (I will discuss kit houses in more detail in the future, but for more information you can always turn to Rosemary Thornton, a foremost authority on the subject).

Despite having found no evidence of a kit house, that did not stop me from searching through scores of kit house designs, looking for a comparable. I was most struck by this example, "The Florence" sold by Montgomery Ward in their 1930 catalog:

Courtesy of Antique Home Style

Now, this is NOT the design of my house. Most glaringly is the roof over the front porch, which extends the shape of the gabled roof fully over the porch. My house has its own separate hipped roof over the porch. Nor was this mail-order design the inspiration for my home's design-- although there could have been an earlier version of this Montgomery Ward offering, my home was built several years prior to this publication in 1930. However, there are quite a few similarities to examine here:

First, on the exterior, the overall form of a 1-1/2 sory bungalow is similar in both examples. Each has a front-gabled pitched roof and a simple, prevailing rectangular shape oriented with its length from the front of the lot to the back. Each has a front porch with three piers, and just a few steps raises the porch and the main living floor above the ground. The primary difference of the extended gable over the porch in the design for the "Florence" versus the shorter hipped roof in my house was already mentioned-- in the kit house the space above the porch added a bit more attic area. Other noticable differences are that the porch piers are trimmed lumber in the kit, whereas the builder of my house used local Chestnut Hill stone. A minor difference is that the porch is entered on the front side in the kit as opposed to the side at my house.

Further, my house has a projecting bay window at the left side facade. The kit house does not. Even though, as you'll see below in the floor plan examination, the remainder of the windows correspond to the same room functions, the size, proportions, and sash patterns of the fenestration do not match between the two designs. The front door is separate from all windows at my house, where the "Florence" incorporates the door in between two double-hung windows. (Note: the windows you see towards the back of my house are the rear addition from the 1940's, a piece not relevant in the comparison to the kit house design).

However, what most struck me when I found the "Florence" were the similarities between floor plans. Below is a comparison between the 1930 floor plan of the kit house design and what I believe to be the original 1920's floor plan of my house.

First, I must make it a point to myself to draft this sketch of my house more accurately. As an architect, I'm not thrilled with myself that I haven't yet taken the time to draw this properly, so please excuse the crudity of the sketch on the right.

The layout of the kit house and the original layout of my house are near identical. While I admit that I do not know this original layout for certain, I feel pretty confident based on conversation with the Cantlins' (long-time owners) daughter-in-law, who lived in my house for a few years in the late 1950's. I also admit that in a house of this size and shape, with five rooms plus a bathroom, there is not an infinite number of possible floor plan layouts. However, this is by far the most similar I have come across.

In both floor plans, one enters into what was the primary living room, with clear views through a cased opening into the dining room beyond. The kitchen was at the rear corner of the house, with access to the basement at this location. In my house one could also have proceeded directly to the backyard through a rear door, whereas in the kit house the back exit was at a landing a few steps down. The right side of the plan in both cases hold the two bedrooms, with a bathroom sandwiched between and a connecting hallway entered off of the dining room.

Now, with kit houses, the dimensions of the house, especially at its exterior, must match exactly in order to verify it as a kit house. This is due to the fact that in these kits, lumber was shipped in pre-cut sizes-- deviation from the lengths provided would have proved more costly and would have required more skill. The "Florence" measured 34'-0" x 22'-0", and my house measures 34'-2" x 24'-2". It's pretty close, but my house is clearly too wide to match up with this kit house design. The dimensions of the interior rooms also differ from that shown in the "Florence" design, although not by as much as is implied by my drawing.

So It's Not a Kit House-- Who Designed It?

Well, I suspect that due to the carpentry skills either of the men (Stover, Renninger, or Gutekunst) themselves, or their association with carpenters, that an existing design from some source was chosen and modified to suit the builder/owner's taste. It was not a kit, but was built-to-suit without significant elaboration, although the use of the stone piers indicates to me that the builder took some license. I hope to continue to hack away at some of the questions surrounding the house's history, and who knows, perhaps further details about this house's origins will come to light.

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Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1915 Craftsman in Souderton

This week's Saturday Spotlight house is a Craftsman bungalow just outside of the borough of Souderton, PA.

Image courtesy of real estate listing by Re/Max Reliance

We have here a fairly modest Craftsman of nearly 1,900 square feet which exhibits several of the typically common features of this Arts-and-Crafts-inspired home style. The most distinctive of these are the low-pitched roof of the front porch, anchored by tapered stone piers which touch the ground. Stonework is continued with a prominent external fireplace of wide and tall proportion. The short and long 8-pane window is a window shape typical of the style. Knee braces mounted just underneath the roof eaves are one of the hallmarks of Craftsman design. The diamond-shaped siding shingles are an interesting decorative feature for the gable facades, although these are likely not original to the house. A fresh paint job with historic colors could do wonders for this home. On the interior, we see more Craftsman details: coffered ceilings, built-in cabinetry, and stained wood trim throughout.

Image courtesy of real estate listing by Re/Max Reliance

Image courtesy of real estate listing by Re/Max Reliance

Origins

This Craftsman house is believed to be the earliest remaining home of about a dozen homes, on a stretch of road at the edge of town which is now peppered with a few small commercial buildings and a few sizable light-industrial properties. Yet, it was not always so of course. Although not constructed until the 1910's, the house sits on what was previously the 45-acre farm of Henry B. Sell. Sell owned and ran this farm at the edge of Souderton at least as early as 1877, living there with his wife Emeline. They raised at six children on the farm over the years, and eldest Harvey stayed on the farm through the early part of his marriage. Once patriarch Henry passed away in 1909 of a stomach ulcer, however, it appears that the Sell family moved off of the farm and into the borough itself.
Meanwhile, the bungalow featured here was built sometime within the next decade. A few other modest homes where built up along Hatfield Pike during the pre-war era as well. No major farm structures survive on the property, although their time of demolition is not known.

Location of the Henry B. Sell farm, along what is present-day Souderton-Hatfield Pike.

1950s to Present

Post World War II, the immediate area surrounding the Craftsman gained new neighbors in a few ranch-style homes, but the commercial/industrial nature of the Pike appears to have begun around this time as well. In 1966, Joseph Hoffmann, along with his wife Gertrude, purchased the neighboring ranch home, and in the 1970's built a small machine shop for his "J. Hoffmann Tool and Die Company" behind the house. In 1986, the Hoffmanns also bought our subject Craftsman house as well. As the larger of the two houses on their adjacent properties, it's reasonable to assume that they took up residency in the Craftsman at that time. Mr. Hoffmann has passed away within the past decade or so, and the house was sold to another couple. Apparently in a half-finished state of repair in a few of the rooms on the interior (namely the upstairs), it is currently on the market.

The commercial and light industrial properties has continued to be built up sporadically, and the house is now more or less surrounded by such properties. But the Craftsman sits, waiting for a new caretaker, to finish off some of the incomplete renovations and carry it into its next several decades.

Image view Google Street View

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What I Knew on Day 1

The scope for a house history can go in any of a number of directions.  There are various types of documents from which information can be drawn. We will visit those specific directions and documents in other posts. For me, for my house, I essentially want to know anything there is to know, and in this sense my research may never be considered "complete". Although I did not begin to heavily research the house until many months after I moved in, we always wanted a house with some architectural and historical character, and I was interested in the history the day we closed. So, what did I already know on Day 1?

Approximate Date of Construction
The real estate listing for the house declared the date of construction as 1920. Now, this cannot be definitively stated as a completely accurate fact.  Realtors pull construction date info from local public record databases, most often specifically in property tax assessment records. However, while these records can accurately tell you assessment history (especially more recent assessment history), the construction date listed is most likely not correct if your house is any more than a few decades old. Although the style of the house is supportive of a construction date in this time period, we cannot assume 1920 is the exact year.

Likelihood of a Rear Addition
Our home inspection was invaluable to us as first-time home buyers, and one item that was revealed during this inspection was that the rear living room and bedroom were likely part of an addition. One can tell this from a simple visual inspection-- as we made our way around the north side of the house, a crack/separation in the exterior siding indicates that the foundation at this portion of the house had settled a bit more than that of the main house and was likely built at a different time than the original house.

At some point, the house was re-sided to appear uniform throughout. The other area from visual inspection where an addition is obvious is in the basement-- the original foundation wall ends at this same location, right at the staircase to the basement (and attic, which also ends at this point). A peek into the existing doorway cut in the foundation wall reveals a crawlspace, the stairs which at one point provided direct access to the exterior, and the floor joists supporting my living room floor.

Style of the House
The style of the house is clearly that of a typical American bungalow. The term "Craftsman" could apply to this style, although generally connotes the presence of more elaborately crafted details than my house exhibits. Bungalows were often a single story (or single story with an attic) and were commonly built in the first few decades of the 20th century. Architectural features include a low-pitched gabled roof, often with deeper eaves. My front porch with tapered stone piers is also a typical craftsman bungalow feature, although they more typically extend to the ground, as opposed to sitting on the porch slab.

Diagram of a Craftsman Bungalow, courtesy of A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia & Lee McAlester

Previous Ownership
We certainly know who sold the house to us-- a couple not much older than ourselves, who have kids of their own as well, had owned the house for 14 years, and were moving to a larger house in town. Our deed also tells us that they bought the house from a woman of the last name Cantlin. This would be a bit of information for further exploration, and previous deeds will feature heavily in future posts. There had been no recent sales prior to 2001.

Renovations
It was clear that the previous owners had cared quite a bit for the house and put quite a chunk of change into it. The seller's disclosure form they filled out as part of the process of our transaction indicated such items as new roofs (likely c. 2001) for the back section (previously mentioned "addition") and for the front porch; the addition of a rear deck (2003); and infrastructural improvements such as a new domestic water heater (2001), and brand new natural gas boiler (2013). Although not detailed in documentation, other obvious improvements by these owners include hardwood floors throughout the living areas (modern, not original), and new tile finishes and fixtures in both bathrooms. Most likely the entire kitchen was modestly re-done including new (Ikea I believe) cabinets. Modern, dual-paned, double-hung vinyl windows (Pella) are also recent.


As you can see, even without doing much heavy searching, one can get a great start on a thorough history of the house merely by going through the process of buying it-- we've looked at the real estate listing, the home inspection, and the deed here as sources of information. Although some of these revelations are not "historical" in the sense they did not occur many decades ago, even the recent alterations are part of the long history of the home.

You will also soon come to see that, had I been looking even closer, additional clues would have been apparent...

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