The King of Marven Gardens

REAL ESTATE

Area development's original home on the market

By Steve Angelucci

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Jun. 14, 2007

Located about two miles south of Atlantic City, the small development of Marven Gardens is known throughout the world thanks to the original Monopoly game and a movie starring Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern and Ellen Burstyn. However, The King of Marvin Gardens and Monopoly use the same misspelling of the area's name. Since it's located in Margate near the Ventnor border, it was named "Marven," instead of the commonly misspelled "Marvin."

Bounded by Ventnor, Winchester, Fredericksburg and Brunswick avenues, Marven Gardens is about two short blocks from the beach. It is the only property not located within Atlantic City on the original Monopoly game board. Most of the Tudor Revival, Mission/Spanish Revival homes within those boundaries (including those on Circle, East and West drives) were built during the 1920s and 1930s by the Frank J. Pedrick & Sons company. Since 1990, the Marven Gardens Historic District has been on the National Register of Historic Places.

While many homes in this development were originally considered high-end, they fell into disrepair during Atlantic City's doldrums before casino gambling. However, during the housing boom of this decade, many have returned to their former beauty.

Although built in 1922, this Ventnor Avenue home was purchased by local entrepreneur Joseph Toll in the late 1940s. Toll was a co-owner of the Howard Johnson's hotel (which became the Boardwalk Regency and is now Caesars) and the Million Dollar Pier (now the site of The Pier at Caesars).

"We were the second owners of the home," says daughter Barbara Toll. "As a kid in the '50s, I used to open the windows to my room and all the convertibles would come by in the summer and stop at the stoplight and I'd hear snatches of every rock 'n' roll song. So, I sort of have this repertoire of the first three lines of every song from living in that corner room.

"We added the porch on the front, but otherwise it is fairly intact. I would say it's a Mediterranean style -- it's stucco with a tile roof, and it has the original roof. So, the exterior has not really been altered in the way that some of the other houses have."

The roof appears to be terra cotta, which gives the home a Spanish ambiance. The front porch has a flagstone and cement floor, plus framing for an overhead awning.

The home's entryway consists of a small, tasteful vestibule leading to an expansive living room with tract lighting. Immediately noticeable are the striking white tile floors and 10-foot ceilings, which extend throughout the first floor of the 2,035-square-foot home.

"One of the things that I think is significant about this house is its symmetry and I think that its design makes you feel at ease," says Toll. It's a very comfortable feeling when you go into a space that has a kind of symmetry. That, plus the high ceilings creates a sense of airiness within the ground floor."

The living room leads to a spacious formal dining room. It, too, is well lit and airy with windows along two walls, stylish wall sconces and recessed lighting. Adjacent to it is a kitchen that, while somewhat dated, was once ahead of its time. It features a six-burner gas stove with dual ovens, a dishwasher and solid birch cabinets (painted over). If stripped, they would return to their original state, which according to Toll was a "pale, pale, yet creamy, yellow."

Close by is a door leading to a small room once used as servants' quarters. It has a half bath. Another door leads to a one-car garage. The remainder of the first floor includes a full bathroom and another room that could be used as a bedroom or den.

Upstairs is a master bedroom with wall-to-wall carpeting, a large cedar closet built by Joseph Toll and a master bathroom. Two other medium-sized bedrooms and one bath complete the second floor. In all, the home has four bedrooms and three and one-half bathrooms. Amenities include a security system, blinds and curtains, plus a washer and dryer.

Although the house has gas heating and central air, "When I grew up we had no air conditioning and the house was always cool," says Toll. "All the bedrooms have cross ventilation. ... It has pretty thick walls, so you really can't hear from one room to the next. It's the kind of construction that you can't find anymore. The houses of that era have a kind of graciousness about them. They were very influenced by a sense of Hollywood glamour."

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