Gordon Van Tine was based in Davenport, Iowa and offered their first kit house catalog in 1912. Four years later, they introduced their own line of pre-cut kit homes (with framing lumber pre-cut and ready to nail into place).

When Montgomery Ward added pre-cut homes to their catalogs in 1917, they subcontracted the orders to Gordon Van Tine. Even the catalogs of the two companies were very similar with only the names changed in all the important places. However, there were a few Wardway designs that were not offered in the Gordon Van Tine catalogs and a few GVT houses that never showed up in the Wardway catalogs.

Below is a picture of a Gordon Van Tine “Roberts” (also known as Model #535). The GVT Roberts was never offered in the Wardway catalog, yet it was one of their most popular houses. If you memorize only one GVT design, make it “The Roberts.” It was an unusual house (many distinctive features) and wildly popular.

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A Gordon Van Tine "Roberts" from a 1925 catalog

Owned by a WV state official, the homeowners had no idea this was a kit home until we knocked on their door and told them. THis house is in Charleston, West Virginia.