Sears Mortgage in St. Louis for a Beautiful Sears Lexington

1380 N. Sappington, Glendale (St. Louis), Missouri  •  1930

Who would recognize this as a Sears Lexington??

Well, I didn't.

And, I've driven by it a hundred times.  This beautiful home is the very last one on N. Sappington Road, just before Manchester Road, and it's on the road that my street is off of.  I drive by it to go to work.  I drive by it to go to restaurants.  I drive by it to go to the grocery store. But, did I realize that it began its life as a Sears home? No!

Nonetheless, this beautiful home was definitely bought as a kit home, in 1930, by Ira B. Waters, and his wife, Mary (Mamie) Nunnemann Waters. I recently uncovered a Sears 15-year mortgage for this address (after about 5 hours of squinting at deed index files on microfilm, at the local library), and that is proof positive that we have, at this address, a now-authenticated Sears kit home.

I took this photo of the screen, while I was doing my old-fashioned microfilm research.
See there, on the left, where it says, Powell..... E Harrison .... and then, Ira b. Waters and wife. This is from the Inverted mortgage deed index for 1930, for Saint Louis County.  E. Harrison Powell was the Sears trustee whose name you see on mortgage deeds, deeds of trust, and (sadly) foreclosure re-possesion deeds, starting in about 1930. 

Ira Waters was a plasterer, and owned his own business. Previous to moving to this big, beautiful "Honor-Bilt" Sears Modern Home, in Glendale (one of the lovely, old suburbs outside of the city of St. Louis), he and Mary lived for decades on Easton Street, in the city of St. Louis.  Ira and Mary were in their early 50s when they visited the St. Louis Sears Modern Homes office, looked through a catalog of designs, and settled on the stately 7-room colonial, the Lexington.

Ira and Mary may have seen the cover of the 1928 Sears Honor-Bilt Modern Homes Catalog, which featured the Lexington:

Cover of the 1928 Sears Modern Homes Catalog

And, inside the catalog, they would have seen the black-and-white rendering of the Lexington...

The Model 3255, Pre-Cut and Fitted, LEXINGTON, on page 27 of the 1930 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

 ...and then, read

                                                                                                                  ... and they were sold.

And, apparently they did love the visual of a big, white, colonial home with moss-green shutters, because that is how the house was painted for all of its years, I believe... until the most recent owner bought it in 2008, and made many renovations.

This is a Bing maps aerial view of the house, from about 2007 (thanks, Andrew Mutch!).
Notice the original white and green color scheme, the original Lexington front porch, and the absence of dormers.

This remodeling was a real disappointment to Buffy and Jack M., owners of the Lexington on N. Sappington Road throughout the 1980s and 1990s.  How do I know this? Well... as it turns out, I've met Buffy and Jack! I met them at a neighbor's Christmas party in 2011, the first year that we moved to our home. Buffy and Jack, a lovely couple a bit older than I, explained to me that they knew our neighbors, because they had lived nearby... "In the big house at the end of Sappington! You know it! It's the very last house, just before Manchester! Oh, that couple who bought it, they told us they loved it just the way it was... and, now look at it!!"

Well, I wasn't familiar with the house (and I certainly had no idea that it was a Sears house), but I quickly became familiar with it.  The next time I drove by it, I noted its beautiful landscaping, and its dark brownish-grey paint, and beautiful white edging, and imposing front porch.  I couldn't imagine what Buffy and Jack objected to, but I guess they were partial to the traditional white with moss green shutters.  And... perhaps to the original façade, which has now been changed with the extension of the front porch all across the front, the replacing of the front door with a big, beautiful new one, and the addition of the three dormers.

Closeup of the new front porch, with its new double front door.

Pre Remodeling: A tiny Google-map glimpse of the house, circa 2007-- just so that you can clearly see the white and green.

Ha! What a photo, eh? This home is heavily landscaped, and difficult to see without walking into the yard.
This is another Google Maps shot, pre-remodeling, from about 2007, included so that you can see that the dormers are not yet added at that time, and there are the moss-green shutters, on that lovely white clapboard.

And here, you can see that remodeling work has begun.  The house is still white, with green shutters, but you can see the dormers have just been added (and are still bare wood on the side).  This is another Google Maps shot, from about 2009.

Finding the Mortgage and 

Documenting the History of Its Owners

This house represents my first big Sears mortgage find. It is, to me, incredibly ironic (and exciting!) that the first mortgage that I was able to link to a Sears home in St. Louis, would be for this house that I know (the outside of) so well, that I see so often, and whose previous owners I have shared a glass of wine with at Christmastime.  When, using census records on Ancestry.com,  I linked the name Ira B. Waters to an address on nearby N. Sappington Road (thanks for that hint, Andrew M.!), I was pretty excited. But, when I plugged that address into Google Maps, and it landed square on THIS house, well.... my mouth popped open, my eyes bugged out, and I let out quite an excited yelp, I'm pretty sure. My husband didn't know what on earth was going on.

This is a snippet from the full mortgage deed.  You can see the names of our buyers, Ira B. Waters and Mary Waters, and the name of E. Harrison Powell, the trustee from Sears, and the full principal sum of a whopping $9,000.

Still, though, I hadn't even thought about what model the house might be, and, frankly, I couldn't associate this big, extensive, dark brown-grey house with dormers, to a Sears model. Even though I drive by it and take note of it often, I didn't have an idea of how many windows there were, but I knew that it had a big, long porch across the front, dormers, and that it was no small house.

This is the heading on the 2-page spread of the catalog, that outlines the several purchasing options for buyers of Sears pre-cut kit homes.

Ira and Mary chose plan 2.

15 years of installments, with 6% interest.

So, I checked the online files of the St. Louis County Department of Revenue Real Estate information web page.  That's where I go to find house history and footprint information, for homes in this area. And I came up with a footprint image that was pretty comical... the house has additions all over the place.  Check it out in the image below:

The grey "A" section (37 X 26), and the 10 X 24 light blue section "C" to the left of it, are the original parts of the house.
The new porch across the front, is section "B", and everything else, are more additions.  The Yellow "I" section is a big multi-car garage, I believe.

I excitedly rushed onto Facebook, to share my huge news with my house-hunting buddies in our Sears Homes and Plan Book Houses group.  I started babbling about finding the mortgage, about having met the previous owners, and I posted the address, and mentioned the size of the original house's footprint. Before I knew it... Andrew, I believe, said, "I think it's a Lexington." A LEXINGTON!? I couldn't believe it. But, with further research, some time on Google Maps, and a drive by to take some photos, I realized that it sure as heck was a Lexington.

Comparing the first-floor footprint on today's tax records, to the 1930 catalog listing image of the 1st-floor plan.
Notice, too, that there is a spacious reception hall, a center hall stairway, a very spacious living room, and a nice-size dining room... not to mention the spacious side porch. (click to enlarge)

From the 1930 catalog listing for the Lexington.

The second floor.  That must have been a lovely, wide-open stair area.

Interior Views

Although I don't have any interior views of the Glendale, Missouri Lexington, here are a few from a real estate listing for a Lexington in Flint, Michigan, that has recently been bought and is being re-habbed to be made into a center for helping wounded veterans*(see end of post for more information on that). This is an authenticated Sears Lexington, and is located at 2002 Windemere Avenue, Flint, Michigan:

Interior central staircase of the Lexington in Flint, Michigan

Standard doorway for Lexington.
Also note that the stairway newel shown above is the Sears Colonial newel, and this is the Sears Colonial staircase.

Entry into the living room from the entry hall.

Living room

Hall area on second floor.

Here is the Sears Colonial porch overhang from the Flint, Michigan authenticated Lexington

The Earlier Lexington Model

Up until about 1926, the Sears Lexington was a slightly different model. Though also a grand colonial, it had only 3 windows across the top, not the five of model 3255, which made its debut after 1926. 

The model 3045, the early Lexington, in the 1925 Sears Honor Bilt Modern Homes catalog.
Still an expensive, large home, with nine rooms, and costing well over $4,000-- before construction costs.

Here is the floor plan for the early, "3-window" Lexington, from the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

Lara at Sears Homes of Chicagoland posted in 2014 about a beautiful 1921 3-window model. You can read her post here, to see more photos, or see the full set of photos from the sale listing on Trulia, here. The photos below are taken from the Trulia listing, and are shown on Lara's blog, as well. They give you an idea of the quality and elegance of both of the Lexington models.

click to enlarge
This home looks to have the reverse floor plan.

click to enlarge

We don't know what color scheme and direction Mary chose for their new home in Glendale, but she may well have chosen from the many wallpaper designs in this 1930 "Fade-proof wallpaper" book by Sears Roebuck.

You can see the full book of these wallpaper options HERE, on Archive.com.

Ira B. Waters and the Nunnemanns of Germany

When Ira Waters and Mamie Nunnemann first married (Mary's real name is Mamie, or Mayme), they moved in with Mamie's mother Anna Richter Nunnemann, who was a widow.  They lived at 4901A Easton Street (a street that I believe is gone, or goes by another name, now -- EDIT: Easton is now Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd), in the city of Saint Louis.  1910 census records show that, along with Ira and Mamie, Anna also had a lodger, Lloyd Waters, who appears to have been Ira's brother or cousin. Ira and Lloyd are both listed as plasterers.

In this little snippet from the 1910 City of Saint Louis census, you can see that Anna Nunnemann is the head of the household, Mamie is her daughter, Ira is her son-in-law, and Lloyd is a boarder.  (Click to enlarge.)

Mamie's parents, Theodore and Anna Marie  Richter Nunnemann, came to the United States in 1867. They sailed on a ship named The Baltic, departing from Bremen, Germany (and then Southampton, England) and arriving at the Port of New York. I was able to see their names on a passenger list for that ship, through documents on Ancestry.com.

The ship on which Anna and Theodore Nunnemann traveled, in steerage, in 1867, to come to the United States.

This image is from the actual ship's registry, showing the Nunnemanns, and a Richter (no doubt a brother of Anna).
Mamie wasn't born until after they had settled in Saint Louis. (as always, click to enlarge)

A clearer summary list showing Anna as one of the passengers on The Baltic.

Theodore Nunnemann had been a farmer in Prussia (Germany), but worked as a locksmith, and at a foundry, while living in St. Louis.  He died in 1906 (I wonder if he was able to attend the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis?), and Anna lived on until 1915.

The 1920 Census shows that Ira now owned his own contracting company, and, by 1930, still on Easton Avenue in the city, Ira and Mary/Mamie even have a "private servant" living with them, 18-year-old Elinor Fulsch.

A snippet from 4901 Easton Avenue, on the 1930 census. Their new Lexington, in Glendale, must have been under construction, as they were to move to it soon after this.

By the time of the 1940 Census, Ira and Mamie/Mary are now shown at the address at 1380 N. Sappington, in Glendale.

Summary listing from Ira's entry on the 1940 census.

I was unable to find any further information about Ira, so I don't even know how much longer he lived with Mary in his lovely Lexington, in Glendale. EDIT: According to an obituary I found in the archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ira died on October 13, 1957. By the time of Mary's death, in 1952, and Ira's death in 1957, the couple were living back at the original Nunnemann  family's property at 4901-03 Easton Avenue (now Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd.), where they had begun their married life, living with Mary's widowed mother. Though Mary was buried in prestigious Calvary Cemetary, with the Nunnemann family, Ira was buried in historic Oak Grove Cemetary, in North St. Louis, which is now in great disrepair.

From the October 15, 1957 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mary, however, died in 1952, at the age of 76.  She is buried in Calvary Cemetary, in St. Louis, in a large family plot for the Nunnemann family.

This is the large gravestone marker for the Nunnemann family plot, in Calvary Cemetary.
These two images are thanks to Sharon Howell, at FindAGrave.com.

You can read the inscription with Mary/Mamie's father's name, Theodore, at the top, and her mother, Anna Maria, below him (click to enlarge).

And, finally, Mary/Mamie/Mayme's gravestone in Calvary Cemetary. Oddly, Mayme was buried with the Nunnemann family, but her husband, Ira B. Waters, was buried in a different cemetary (Oak Grove).
(image credit to Kathie, at FindAGrave.com)

*EDIT (March 2017):
Here is the Sears Lexington in Flint, Michigan that is being re-habbed to serve as a home for wounded veterans.  Click here for the news story.

Click here to see the news story.

EDIT June 2018
The Glendale house is currently for sale! So much expansion and interior renovation has been done to the house, that it is not really recognizable as the Sears Lexington, but let's take a look at just a few photos. These are from the real estate listing, found here.

Ha! These aerial views certainly show the amount of expansion that has been done!

1380 N. Sappington Rd, Glendale, Missouri, Bing maps view from 2007

1380 N. Sappington Rd, Glendale, Missouri, 2018

We do get to see the original entry hall, living room, and dining room. The staircase newel and balusters have all been re-done with newer materials. I imagine these are the original Sears oak wood floors, though!

The original staircase, entry hall, living room and dining room, of 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri.
The staircase newel and balusters have been replaced. They would have originally looked like the photo below. Additionally, you can see that the back of the house has been extended.

Compare that to the same area, though with the reverse floor plan, of the same model Lexington, in Flint, Michigan:

The Flint, Michigan Lexington

This view of the dining room, shows Sears La Tosca door hardware:

Original Sears La Tosca door hardware: 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri

The image to the left is from a customized Sears Vallonia in Westerly, Rhode Island (read about it here).

Sears La Tosca door hardware in the Sears Modern Homes catalog, circa 1930.

Here is the original living room, though re-done:

Original living room area of the authenticated Sears Lexington at 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri

Sears Lexington floor plan from the 1932 Sears Modern Homes catalog.

Looking out into the now-enclosed side porch. The fireplace surround does not look to be an original Sears fireplace surround from the Sears catalogs.  The beautiful back doors, leading to the large deck, are not part of the original design of the house. There would have been a pair of windows there, originally.

View from the back of the house, show how hugely expanded it is:

Sears Lexington at 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri

Sears Lexington at 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri

To close, let's take another look at the Sears Lexington in the 1930 Sears Modern Homes catalog, followed by a view of the front of our Lexington at 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri, as it looks today:

Sears Lexington at 1380 N. Sappington Road, Glendale, Missouri

The house is really beautiful inside -- take a look at the full real estate listing here.
It's up for sale for $1, 049, 000. 

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