Glimpses of Canadian History, one vibrant moment at a time
  • Home
  • Admin
  • About me

Mail-Order a Home

  • By Susanna McLeod
  • Feb-27-2013
  • Fascinating Canadian History
  • Comments Off on Mail-Order a Home

Canadian Aladdin and T. Eaton’s offered complete house kits, from plans to lumber, cupboards to knobs, all precut and ready to construct on your own piece of land.

Eaton's Spring and Summer Catalogue, 1913 - Canadian Museum of Civilization

“Manufactured in our mills in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia, according to the most approved methods of modern construction, shipped complete, knocked-down flat, ready for construction…anyone can put them up.”

The confident words of Canadian Aladdin Company Limited’s catalogue inspired the average Canadian to dream of home ownership – and then take action. An American company in Michigan, Aladdin located its Canadian head office in Toronto, and had branch offices across the country. It was a simple plan that worked: print catalogues of house designs and plans, allow the customer to make their own blueprint changes and then put together a kit, complete with instructions.

Many home designs, but not all had bathrooms

The Canadian Aladdin company sold homes through catalogues from 1905 to 1952, noted Les Henry on Civilization.ca. Their many home plans included bungalows, storey-and-a-halfs, and two storeys. Since indoor plumbing was still a rarity, not all plans came with indoor bathrooms. Outhouses could be ordered separately. The company’s dedication to quality homes lead to a guarantee that would be almost impossible to find today. They would pay a dollar per knot for every tree knot found in a train-car load of their lumber.

Shipped by train to the station nearest to the prospective homeowner’s property, the kits included precut lumber and all materials needed to build a house – the stairs, flashings, nails, paint and hardware. Buyers in the west received fir and cedar lumber; buyers in the east received pine, spruce and hemlock lumber. All materials were guaranteed by Canadian Aladdin.

Company towns were built using home kits

Customers for the mail-order homes were not only single home buyers. Businesses also took advantage of the price-conscious kits. Garner Brothers Grain Company in Saskatchewan, Porcupine Crown Mine in Ontario, along with the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario and others, used Canadian Aladdin’s homes scheme to set up their own company towns for employees.

Along with a full range of catalogue goods, the T. Eaton Company also sold a range of home designs from 1910 to 1932. In the western provinces only, the 40 or more house designs were available through Winnipeg catalogues and home plan catalogues. The lumber was shipped from British Columbia and the millwork was completed in Winnipeg. Blueprints sold for $2.50, which was subtracted from the purchase of the home kit. Eaton’s plans featured a two-and-one-half-storey home, which came to be recognized as an Eaton’s house.

A home for less than $1,000 in 1912

The most common style of Eaton’s house, a one-and-one-half-storey model, sold in 1912 for $696.50, plus $150 for indoor plumbing. Delivered by boxcar to the nearest train station for pick-up, the Eaton’s lumber was not precut.

Built to last, mail-order houses still stand today in towns and cities across Canada. Canadian Aladdin’s advertising gave the reason for such durability:

“They differ from other high class dwellings only in their manifest superiority.”

Both companies used high-grade lumber, good quality supplies and invested in good design. Many Eaton’s homes, according to Jan Warrick of Homes.Canada, are “serving the fourth or fifth generation of the same family, on the same quarter section of land.

More Resources:

Turn the virtual pages of a Canadian Aladdin Catalogue for an absolutely mesmerizing view of mail-order homes.

This article first appeared on Suite101.com in 2007.  Copyright Susanna McLeod

Comments

← Previous Post Next Post →

Categories

  • Fascinating Canadian History
  • Those Canadian Women, they got this

Search:

Archives

  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • November 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
About This Site

A cras tincidunt, ut tellus et. Gravida scel ipsum sed iaculis, nunc non nam. Placerat sed phase llus, purus purus elit.

Archives Widget
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
Categories
  • Entertainment
  • Technology
  • Sports & Recreation
  • Jobs & Lifestyle
Search

Powered by WordPress  |  Business Directory by InkThemes.