The residence at 113 S. Main St. in Allentown may be modest but it’s also a testament to architectural integrity that only cost $1,500.
ERIC SUCAR staff Allentown resident Bob Peppler stands in the archway characteristic of an original Sears & Roebuck Package Home. Peppler’s house will be featured on an upcoming historic home and farm tour sponsored by The Villagers of Allentown. Purchased from a catalog in the 1920s, the Sears & Roebuck Package Home came to Allentown in parts that cost about $700.
“Sears & Roebuck sold you all of the lumber and materials and you put them together,” said Bob Peppler, who bought the package home in downtown Allentown already assembled in 1980.
An order for a package home came with all of the materials to complete its construction, including the flooring, finishing lumber, wallpaper, gutters, sashes and hardware, along with enough paint to provide each room and the exterior with two coats.
Peppler estimates the total cost for completing his home in 1930 at $1,573.
Unobtrusive and fairly simple in their single-floor, bungalowstyle design, the package homes do have distinguishing characteristics including a 3-foot overhang along the roofline around their entire outdoor perimeter. The homes also have pine flooring throughout, a fireplace in the living room and an archway with leaded-glass doors flanked by bookcases that leads into the dining room.
Although Peppler bought his package home in the ’80s, he didn’t live in it until he decided to retire in 2001. He made some improvements to the home but kept its original form by adding a 3-foot overhang along the roofline of the master bedroom addition that he put on the back. He made other minor changes, which included adding a back patio and railings on the front porch.
“I love working outside with gardens and flowers,” Peppler said. “We did very little work inside.”
The home continues to stand the test of time.
“It’s great to live in and easy to maintain,” Peppler said.
Peppler’s is not the only Sears & Roebuck Package Home in the area; another is located across the street from the Cream Ridge Golf Course in Upper Freehold. Peppler and his wife, Judy, also know of four package homes in a row on a street in Trenton and have visited Hopewell, Va., a village that has four blocks full of package homes.
PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff Allentown’s Bob Peppler (top photo) describes what it’s like to live in an original Sears & Roebuck Package Home, from his backyard patio. As Peppler (bottom photo) gives a tour of his home, he points out his collection of The Villagers of Allentown’s “minis,” which depict historic buildings from the area. Peppler’s home will be one of the stops on The Villagers of Allentown’s Historic Village and Farm Tour starting at noon Sept. 29. The tour will consist of 10 historic homes in Allentown and one farm in Upper Freehold. Other homes on the tour are the R. Vanderbrick House, Malcolm Knowles House, James Rogers House, Gen. Beatty House, Capt. John Rogers House, John W. Naylor House, Morgan Buckalew House and the Samuel Kelley Farm.
Norma Elgrim, of The Villagers of Allentown, said there are many interesting homes in Allentown. She said that the tour provides a glimpse into the history and progress of the community.
ERIC SUCAR staff While speaking of the history of the area, Bob Peppler stands on the porch of his historic home on Main Street in Allentown Sept. 14. “Allentown exists in the crossroads of American Revolution,” Elgrim said. “The historians of our town are trying to maintain its historic nature, but we also have the old and the new coming together here.”
When asked why the community should support the tour, Elgrim said, “From a purely monetary point of view, it’s a very huge money maker and it helps us give to other charities.
“More than that,” she continued, “it’s about people that are gracious enough to open their homes for the people who really want to see Allentown as it was, and how we have used the old and brought it up as it is today.”
Originally founded by young mothers as an outlet for their energies by meeting socially and sharing crafts, The Villagers of Allentown is now a nonprofit that holds various fundraisers to support other community groups and endeavors. The historic tour is one of the group’s means of raising money to provide scholarships to local students and to donate teddy bears to first aid squads and police agencies to give to children who have suffered an accident or abuse.
The Villagers of Allentown is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Beyond charity work, the group offers its 100 members bimonthly meetings that include educational presentations and field trips.
As a means of supporting the Allentown Villagers, the Pepplers encourage those on the tour to also think about purchasing the group’s “minis,” which are small, painted, wooden replicas of historic structures in the Allentown area.
The Pepplers have the “minis” they purchased from the group lining the tops of the doorways in almost every room of their home.
“They are a limited edition, and The Villagers of Allentown try to put one out every year,” Peppler said.
The local firehouse and post office, the Allentown Feed Co. building and Walnford Mill are among the structures represented. The buildings are depicted the way they historically looked, not necessarily how they look today, which Peppler – who has lived in Allentown for more than 60 years and whose family has operated the Peppler Funeral Home across the street from his residence for decades – can appreciate.
The “minis” can be purchased during the home tour. Advance tickets for the tour are $12 apiece and are available at the Allentown Public Library, the Allentown Pharmacy, Down Home Country, and Corner Frame & Gallery in Allen- town, as well as at ERA Advantage Realty in the Cream Ridge section of Upper Freehold and Red Barn Antiques in the New Egypt section of Plumsted.
Tickets will cost $15 each the day of the event. For more information about the tour, call (609) 291-2784.