Sears Roebuck catalog homes still standing on Sanibel

There’s a house on Sanibel that has stood the test of time and built the same way you would build with Legos.

Ty Symroski grew up in the classic 1922 Sears Roebuck catalog home, a home that was picked out of a catalog and delivered right to you.

Once a dime a dozen, the house is now one of a kind.

“I guess there’s probably houses all over the country that I could move into and I would say ‘wait that’s my house!'” Symroski said.

Most of the remaining Sears homes are located in the Midwest, but this one is right here in Southwest Florida.

Ty’s grandmother’s house, also a Sears home, is in the historic village on Sanibel too.

Now while the home was restored to look like what it would have looked like in the 1930s, the other Sears catalog home on the island was so modified over the years by different families that lived in it, that it can no longer look like what it once did.

But now, with Sears filing for bankruptcy, it may be the end of an era.

MORE: Sears files for bankruptcy

“It’s a shame. You know I guess they were the Amazon Prime of the late 1800s early 1900s,” Ty said.

But there’s no question in the reliability of the home which withstood big hurricanes like Hurricane Donna in 1960 which destroyed other homes on Sanibel.

 

Now Ty’s goal is to keep the rarity as a part of Sanibel’s history.

“It’s nice for my nieces and nephews and now their kids to come back and see the house as it was.”