Rice House

The Rice House is a modest, vernacular dwelling of a size and character not unlike those packaged and sold as complete homebuilder’s “kits” by companies such as Sears-Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, and Alladin, beginning in the first decade of the 20th century. Precursors of the modern “pre-fab” homes, which are constructed off-site and shipped in a few separate, essentially complete sections, kit homes were shipped by rail as packaged collections of separate, numbered pieces—in some cases, as many as 30,000— and were then fit together, piece-by-piece, on-site. An estimated 500,000 such homes were packaged and sold during the century, and the Rice House may be one in that half-million. Pre-manufactured or not, it is a tidy and compact piece of work, distinctive for its arched gables and Classically-inspired entrance portico, which is set off by Tuscan-style columns—the latter “mirrored” by decorative pilasters affixed to the surface of the front facade, along either side of the main entryway. The porch at the front is fully enclosed, extensively fenestrated, and blends seamlessly into the walls of the house proper. History records this building as the “Rice House,” since it was inhabited for an extended time by prominent local businessman, Alva C. Rice, who helped run the family business, Rice Lumber and Hardware and, later, Rice Hardware and Motor Company—the latter being one of the earliest automobile dealerships in Converse County.