Alternative and Non-Traditional House Plans

Prefabricated houses and house kits have been in use in California as far back as the Gold Rush days, when they came “’round the horn.” The Pacific Ready-Cut Homes Company of Los Angeles was active in the 1920s, along with Michigan’s Aladdin Company.

The largest source of kit homes was Sears and Roebuck. More than 75,000 Sears kit homes were built in the U.S. between 1908 and 1940. Sears & Roebuck and Montgomery Ward sold house kits through their mail-order catalogs.

California also produced a variety of plan books for non-traditional houses and methods, including geodesic domes, sheds and garages, vacation homes, pole houses, and cabins.

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