Honor Bilt

Next year in Paris will be held the French International Colonial Exposition. U. S. exhibits will be housed in a reproduction of George Washington's Mount Vernon home and in two wings, the plans of which were completed last week. A U. S. firm has been awarded the construction contract, an award surprising to persons who have not followed developments in the home-building fields. Builder of Mount Vernon for France will be Sears, Roebuck & Co., potent Chicago mail-order house.

Sears, Roebuck's entrance into home-building was first thought of about 18 years ago by Chairman Julius Rosenwald. In charge of the department at present is Harvey Louis Harris, 36, whose father was one of the Harris Bros, whose firm demolished the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition (1892) and St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904) buildings. Under the trade-mark of Honor Bilt homes, Sears, Roebuck's activity in this field is growing every year.

Usual system in building an Honor Bilt home is to insist that the lot be free from liens, then to accept it as a 25% equity in the total cost, Sears, Roebuck furnishing the rest on a first-mortgage payable monthly for 15 years. Investigations of prospective customers are made and no home will be sold which is considered beyond the prospect's means. Family budgets are also furnished. The lumber is sent readycut and marked, labor furnished from the locality (until this year, labor was not included). The homes vary from three to nine rooms, cost from $3,500 to $20,000 including everything except furniture. Sears, Roebuck sells that too. Stock designs are kept for milk houses, stables, silos, summer camp bungalows. The company will alter its plans to suit, or even build to order. A prize customer was Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach (paid $77,000 for the Alice-in-Wonderland manuscript) who has a Sears, Roebuck summer home at Ocean Beach, N. J.

Another building activity was announced last month when Sears, Roebuck said it had $5,000,000 to finance remodeling in the New York area on a 10%-down, eight-months or more-to-pay basis. In 1929 its sales of building material and equipment through all outlets came to $42,000,000.

The all-inquisitive Sears, Roebuck statistical department has traced back postmark dates, discovered more Honor Bilt homes are ordered on sunny days than gloomy. Typical names of stock homes are: Berwyn, Columbine, Fairy Homewood, Jewell, Puritan, Solace, Sunlight.

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