02/01/2024
We are known for our built in cabinetry, but we also build a fair number of custom doors. One of the more interesting projects in the past several years was a front door for a house in the Margate City, New Jersey, neighborhood of Marven Gardens. Marven Gardens was a small one block square planned development built in the 1920s and 30’s. It features smallish (for the New Jersey Shore) houses of a number of distinct architectural linages - Spanish Revival, Dutch Colonial, Colonial Revival, Postmedieval, English Tudor. The houses are inward facing from the square block streets that surround the neighborhood, with ingress and egress from the four courners to internal figure eight streets. The streets are very narrow and tight turning, and the houses very close together. Most of the houses have paired garages with a neighboring house, and shared driveways. My understanding is car keys are hidden so your neighbor can move your car if you parked in the driveway after them.
As a carpenter, there are a number of features, both interesting, but also problematic for houses exposed to ocean breezes, like stucco, wrought iron details, spanish clay tile roofs, exposed decorative woodwork,…etc. This particular project was to replace the original 1920s door that had been repaired many times and was beyond restoration with something similar. The original door had a small 6” square hinged peep-hole with no glass. Our customers wanted glass incorporated into the door with a nautical look. We designed a circular window, to match the circular top of the door, and built the door our of sapele mahogany. We also incorporated better insulation and weatherstripping.
This is the famous Marvin Gardens from the Monopoly game. The makers of the game changed the name from Marven to Marvin. The correct name Marven, is derived from Margate City and Ventnor City, which the neighborhood sits on the border of.
