Homebuilders Catalog Block 1

One of the largest and most complete house plan companies of the Interwar period, the Chicago-based Home Builders Catalog Company produced the encyclopedic Home Builders Catalog annually. The 1928 edition contained plans for 604 houses and 63 garages, as well as a fully indexed section on building materials and products offered by over 400 vendors, all packed into 1,058 pages.

Like nineteenth-century pattern books, the Catalog’s target audience was both contractors and prospective homebuilders. The Manufacturers’ Section was lauded as being “the most comprehensive exhibit of building materials and home equipment ever presented to the building contractor in a single volume.” The promotion and advertisement of building materials was as important to the Home Builders Catalog Company as providing a plan service to prospective homeowners.