It's that time of year! Time for my annual Christmastime delights blog post! This year, I've put together a selection of my favorite house photos from past blog posts, along with photos from a Christmastime visit to a nearby CCC-built park lodge, on The Great River Road in Grafton, Illinois... and a few other delights. Enjoy!
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| Glendale, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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| Sears Lewiston in Webster Groves, Missouri (I wrote about it, here, ten years ago!) |
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| Webster Groves, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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| Webster Groves, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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| Thanks to friend and fellow Sears houses researcher, Karen DeJeet, for this photo! |
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Sears Winona in Herndon, Virginia, with additions and a front fireplace added (Thanks, Barbara Glakas!)
Read all about the evolution of this model, in this blog post of mine. |
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| Webster Groves, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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| Great doorway on a vintage home in Bloomington, Illinois (not a Sears house) |
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| Kirkwood, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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| Webster Groves, Missouri (not a Sears house) |
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Kirkwood, Missouri (not a Sears house)
This is the historic Unsell-Cabell house, built in 1873. I showed it in my 2020 December blog post, where you can find links to information on its history, and award-winning renovation. |
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Webster Groves, Missouri (not a Sears house)
Every town has a "too much house" at Christmastime, and this is almost that... but, it's really well done, actually, and every night, there are cars slowing down in front of it, and people walking by to get photos :) |
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| This is from a very nice Sears Willard, in Rocky River, Ohio, shared with us by its owner (thanks!). |
Pere Marquette Lodge
This wonderful old stone and timber lodge was built during the depression, by CCC (
Civil Conservation Corps) workers, in Pere Marquette State Park, in
Grafton, Illinois, along the
Great River Road (here's a
sped-up 13-minute video of the drive over the bridge from St. Louis, into Alton, Illinois, and along the Great River Road up to Kampsville...
right here, you see a grey and white Sears
Vallonia, on the right!). They not only built the lodge, they also crafted the iron work found around the lodge, on doors, furniture, and lighting fixtures. Illinois inmates constructed the furniture, which is all of Craftsman design-- sturdy, chunky, and natural wood. The construction took six years (1933-1939), and the lodge opened in 1940. We visited this past week, December 17, 2024, and took these color photos. Black & white photos are from the lodge's website (
History and
Gallery).
From my house, to yours...joy, peace, love, happiness, and good health to you this Christmas, and in 2025.
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| This hand-made snowflake ornament was made by my sister Betsy (on the right, below), an architect, potter, and quilter (among other things!). |
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| My wonderful sisters, and I (I'm in the middle), circa 1980! We are holding hand-knit Christmas stockings made for us (in the 1950s) by a dear friend of our mom and dad. Lynne, on the left, was the first born, and is now Grammy to our adored little grand-nieces! |
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For more information on who we are, and what we do, visit our website:
SearsHouses.com
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