Saturday, November 3, 2018

Sears Rembrandt In Cheverly, Maryland

Front left side view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
Authenticated Sears Rembrandt • 1925 • 6101 Forest Road, Cheverly, Maryland
b & w image of Sears Rembrandt in Sears Modern Homes catalog
Sears Rembrandt from the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog
Cheverly, Maryland has an authenticated Sears Rembrandt, and here it is! Researcher Andrew Mutch authenticated this house, along with the other 21 Sears houses in Cheverly, through mortgage records. Most all of these houses were bought by Robert Marshall, around 1925, as part of his plans to build the development of the new city of Cheverly (in fact, Forest Road was originally called Marshall Road). Marshall was an investor and stockbroker from Ohio, who came to the D.C. area during WWI "with the intent of creating a residential community, convenient to the city by rail and road, but retaining the beauty of its natural surroundings", according to this informative website about Cheverly, where you can read further about Marshall's development of Cheverly.

Newspapers in D.C. in 1926, show Robert Marshall's ads advertising "a City at Cheverly"... a "million dollar development" with "beautiful shaded lots":

newspaper clipping showing ad for Cheverly 1926
Evening Star (Washington D.C.) July 31, 1926, page 22
Further ads give more information, pointing out that Cheverly was "carefully restricted and zoned" (read: not just anyone could live there), and touting the concrete streets and curbs, ornamental lamp posts, city water and electricity and telephone service, modern schools, and good transportation into D.C. .
snippet of information in 1926 ad for Cheverly
From a Cheverly ad, Evening Star (Washington D.C.), July 24, 1926, page 20
So, this lovely Sears Rembrandt on Forest Road, is part of the Cheverly development of 1925. Andrew ran across this real estate listing today, and, since I'm not very familiar with this model, I decided to take a good look, and put together some photos of the interior, since we're lucky enough to have them.
First floor layout of the Sears Rembrandt, 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog
First floor layout of the Sears Rembrandt, 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Second floor layout of the Sears Rembrandt, 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog
Second floor layout of the Sears Rembrandt, 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog


The Rembrandt was first introduced in 1924, and was offered by Sears through 1927. The 1925 catalog shows some colorful images of what the Rembrandt's rooms look like. I think that the real estate photographer may have been familiar with the catalog images, because several of the shots show us the same scenes.  Let's take a look.

Heading for Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms
From page 22 of the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog

Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms
living room view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
That's the Sears colonial fireplace surround you see here.
Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms

entry area view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
The staircase has the Sears Colonial newel.
From the Sears Building Materials catalog, 1929
Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms

dining room view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
View from the dining room, looking into the kitchen, on the left, and the entry hallway and living room.
That bumped-out corner isn't shown in the catalog, so something must have been added on the other side... perhaps a closet? pantry? powder room?
The kitchen could probably use a little updating, but I'd say it's a bit improved over the 1925 suggestion!:
kitchen view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms
The Rembrandt's kitchen, as shown in the 1925 Sears Modern Homes catalog
Sears Modern Homes catalog 1925 page 22 showing colorful views of interior of Sears Rembrandt rooms
The master bedroom, with requisite twin beds, à la I Love Lucy... ha!

master bedroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
And, here it is, in real life... those are even the same kind of doors as shown in the catalog image.
master bedroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
The master bedroom looking out into the hall.
That's it for the catalog shots, but I'd like to document the rooms and the outside of the house:
living room view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

front room of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

sun room view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

bedroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
We see Sears Stratford design door hardware on this door.

catalog image of Sears Stratford hardware

bedroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

bedroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

bathroom view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
rear view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
rear view

rear and side view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
side and rear view

Front and right side view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD

Front view of Sears Rembrandt in Cheverly MD
Front view of the Sears Rembrandt at 6101 Forest Road, Cheverly, Maryland
In 1928, Sears made one change to the Rembrandt -- the look of the front porch-- and marketed it as the Van Jean. Other than the look of the front porch, the Sears Rembrandt is the exact twin of the Sears Van Jean. The layout and windows and size, are all exactly the same. They even used the same renderings of the interior, but labeled them as "The Van Jean Interiors".
comparison between Sears Rembrandt and Sears Van Jean

b & w catalog image of Sears Van Jean
Sears Van Jean interior renderings in 1928 Sears Modern Homes catalog
In the 1928 Sears Modern Homes catalog: The Van Jean interior photos are the same ones used for the Rembrandt.
More Kit Houses In Cheverly
Andrew Mutch has documented a kit home by Michigan's McClure Company in Cheverly, in this blog post , and there are more, nestled in among the kit homes by their competitor, Sears. This informative website has lots of pages of information about the history of Cheverly, including this nice little Google map showing the locations of other Sears and McClure homes in the area.

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Visit our website: SearsHouses.com

2 comments:

  1. What's strange about the Van Jean and the Rembrandt being the same house with a different front porch overhang... we see Rembrandts in the Chicago area but never a Van Jean. The Rembrandt seems more "stately" to me.

    Those are great interior photos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I agree! That Rembrandt porch overhang really brings it a nice look. I'm so pleased that this listing had so many nice interior photos for us!

      Delete

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