Last week, I made a promise I couldn’t keep: an inside look at the 1923 Sears “Vallonia” that had hit the market in College Park, Maryland. As it turned out, we couldn’t get in. And neither could anybody else, according to the listing agent–the tenants are defending their fortress! You can read the whole story here. It’s quite ludicrous, actually.

To make up for it, here is the Vallonia’s interior as depicted in the 1926 Sears catalog: Surely, the furnishings will look differently (after all, the tenants are supposed to be a group of students), but perhaps there’s a lot of the original trim and other detail preserved.

Perhaps we’ll find out one day. As of now, the 7-bedroom house has been “on the market” for almost 4 weeks and the agent yet has to gain access for potential buyers (I’m still waiting to hear back from her). Maybe the hope is that somebody will send a large check without having seen the place from the inside.

In any case, as I was nearby last weekend, I couldn’t resist the temptation and drove by. I didn’t have the heart to knock at the door (somehow I suddenly imagined 7 large, angry college athletes on steroids), but I did make another discovery at the end of the block: a perfectly preserved Sears “Brookwood” with original siding, windows and trim (no idea what the bar and cloth and the roof are). Somebody had added an unfortunate little portico to the gabled front at some point, but other than that, it was quite sweet.

When I noticed the For Sale sign on the fence, I looked up the listing but couldn’t find any. I called the agency and asked to see the house. They hoped to have the paperwork ready “tomorrow” and would then enter it in the MLS. That was almost a week ago though. Do I need to mention that agent hasn’t called me back, either?

Normally, I would now say, if you’d like to see one or both of these homes for sale, just give me a call. But I’m not sure I could keep that promise, either.