Music Mountain was founded in 1930 to educate through chamber music performances. When the founder approached Sears for assistance building a concert hall and housing, Sears shipped pre-cut materials for Gordon Hall, the performance center, and several homes - representing one of only a few times Sears designed a building for cultural purposes. The standardized, prefabricated construction helped realize the vision affordably and efficiently through Sears' mail-order house program, demonstrating how pre-manufactured homes could serve new applications beyond residential.
1. Sears Houses at Music
Mountain
The Dawn of Factory Built
Structures
2. Music Mountain – A Brief History
► Founded by Jacques Gordon, founder and first violinist of
the Gordon String Quartet, in 1930
► Mission of education through the performance of the
chamber music literature, specifically, the music for the
string quartet. This mission is realized by bringing together
professionals, amateurs, adults and children, by developing
new audiences and by providing access to the experience
of live music.
► Now in its eighth decade, continues to bring life to this
mission through a wide variety of teaching and
performances by artists who come to Music Mountain from
all over the world.
► Concerts are now heard on over 125 stations nationwide
and, through the facilities of the European Broadcast
Union, by listeners in over 35 other countries.
3. Sears Houses - Brief History
► From 1908–1940, Sears, Roebuck and Co. sold
about 70,000 - 75,000 homes through their mail-
order Modern Homes program. Over that time
Sears designed 447 different housing styles.
Individuals could even design their own homes
and submit the blueprints to Sears, which would
then ship off the appropriate precut and fitted
materials, putting the home owner in full creative
control. Modern Home customers had the freedom
to build their own dream houses, and Sears
helped realize these dreams through quality
custom design and favorable financing.
6. “Balloon style" framing
► Did not require a team of skilled carpenters faster
and generally required only one carpenter. This
system uses precut timber of mostly standard
2x4’s and 2x8’s for framing. Precut timber, fitted
pieces, and the convenience of having everything,
including the nails, shipped by railroad directly to
the customer added greatly to the popularity of
this framing style.
7. But…
► Studs in the bearing walls run uninterrupted from
the sole plate up to the roof plate. Floor joists are
nailed to the studs. No longer allowed, in part
because the open stud cavities allow a fire that
starts in the basement or first floor to travel
rapidly to the upper floor and attic.
8. Drywall
► Before drywall, plaster and lathe wall-building
techniques were used, which required skilled
carpenters. Sears homes took advantage of the
new homebuilding material of drywall by shipping
large quantities of this inexpensively manufactured
product with the rest of the housing materials.
Drywall offered advantages of low price, ease of
installation, and was added fire-safety protection.
It was also a good fit for the square design of
Sears homes.
9. Asphalt Shingles
► Cheap to manufacture and ship, easy and
inexpensive to install. Asphalt had the added
incentive of being resistant.
► Large quantities became available.
► Alternative roofing materials at the time included,
among others, tin and wood. Tin was noisy during
storms, looked unattractive, and required a skilled
roofer, wood was highly flammable.
10. Reduce Labor Cost
►Sears estimated that, for a precut house
with fitted pieces, it would take only 352
carpenter hours as opposed to 583 hours
for a conventional house—a 40% reduction!
11. Financing
►Sears offered loans beginning in 1911, and
by 1918 it offered customers credit for
almost all building materials as well as
offering advanced capital for labor costs.
Typical loans ran at 5 years, with 6%
interest, but loans could be extended over
as many as 15 years.
12. Sound Familiar?
► Sears’s liberal loan policies eventually backfired,
however, when the Depression hit. 1929 saw the
high point of sales with more than $12 million, but
$5.6 million of that was in mortgage loans. Finally,
in 1934, $11 million in mortgages were liquidated,
and despite a brief recovery in the housing market
in 1935, the Modern Homes program was
doomed. By 1935, Sears was selling only houses,
not lots or financing, and despite the ever-
brimming optimism of corporate officials, Modern
Homes sold its last house in 1940.
13. Music Mountain Meets Sears
► When Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears
Roebuck and president of the Chicago Symphony
board, heard of Gordon’s plan to create a music
center he offered his assistance. Gordon replied
that he needed a concert hall and housing for
musicians. Though Rosenwald had built schools
for under serviced populations in the south, this
was the first time he committed to a cultural
center.
14. and a deal is struck
►In 1930 Sears Roebuck shipped train loads
of numbered, pre-cut parts to Falls Village,
CT. that were to become Gordon Hall, the
only cultural facility designed by Sears, and
the centerpiece for Music Mountain, a
performing and educational center for
chamber music.
