Marven Gardens

Marven Gardens Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
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Location	Bounded by Ventnor, Fredericksburg, Winchester and Brunswick Avenues, Margate City, New Jersey
Coordinates	39°19′57″N 74°29′41″W
Area	16 acres (6.5 ha)
Architect	Pedrick & Sons
Architectural style	Tudor Revival, Mission/Spanish Revival, Dutch Colonial
NRHP reference No.	90001440[1]
NJRHP No.	384[2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 13, 1990
Designated NJRHP	August 9, 1990

Marven Gardens is a neighborhood in Margate City, New Jersey, United States, located on the Jersey Shore, two miles (3 km) south of Atlantic City. The name Marven Gardens is a portmanteau derived from Margate City and Ventnor City, because it lies on the border of Margate City and Ventnor City.^[3]

Marven Gardens is surrounded by Ventnor Avenue, Winchester Avenue, Fredericksburg Avenue and Brunswick Avenue. The streets within it are Circle Drive, East Drive and West Drive, and signs at the end of each of these streets pay homage to its Monopoly heritage, with 'Marven Gardens' on a yellow background, and replicas of the house playing pieces adorn the posts on each sign. Most of the homes were built in the 1920s and 1930s. Over 48% of the neighborhood's homes being seasonally occupied. ^[4][5]

Historic district

Marven Gardens in 2014

The Marven Gardens Historic District is a 16 acres (6.5 ha) historic district encompassing the entirety of the neighborhood. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1990, for its significance in architecture, community planning and development. The district includes 105 contributing buildings.^[6]

Monopoly

Further information: Monopoly (game)

Marven Gardens is famous as a yellow property on the original version of the Monopoly game board^{[broken anchor]}, although the game misspelled the name as Marvin Gardens. The misspelling was introduced by Charles and Olive Todd, who taught the game to Charles Darrow, its eventual patentee. His homemade Monopoly board was copied by Parker Brothers.^{[7][8][self-published source]}

In 1995, Parker Brothers acknowledged this mistake and formally apologized to the residents of Marven Gardens for the misspelling.^[9] It is the only property on the board that is not located within Atlantic City.

See also

• The King of Marvin Gardens

References

1. "National Register Information System – (#90001440)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Atlantic County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. December 28, 2020. p. 7.
3. Winkler, Renee. "Whatever the spelling, Marven Gardens has its charms", Courier-Post, August 9, 2004. Accessed September 30, 2007. "Marven Gardens, whose name is derived from the combination of MARgate and VENtnor, comes close to straddling the line dividing these two towns."
4. "DRA 2020". Daves Redistricting. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
5. "Marven Gardens Margate City, NJ Neighborhood Profile - NeighborhoodScout". www.neighborhoodscout.com. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
6. Ralph, Mary Anna (March 1989). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Marven Gardens Historic District". National Park Service. With accompanying 34 photos
7. Orbanes, Philip E. (2006). 'Monopoly: the world's most famous game & how it got that way'. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-306-81489-7.
8. Anspach, Ralph (2000). The Billion Dollar Monopoly Swindle (Second ed.). Xlibris Corporation. pp. 302–303. ISBN 0-7388-3139-5.
9. Williams, Juan (November 25, 2002). "Monopoly". National Public Radio. Present at the Creation. Archived from the original on October 25, 2013. Retrieved January 17, 2014. In 1995, Parker Brothers formally acknowledged the original misspelling of "Marvin Gardens" and apologised to the residents of the neighbourhood of Marven Gardens in Atlantic City.