Marven Gardens

Marven Gardens is a housing area in Margate City, New Jersey, in the United States, located two miles (3 km) south of Atlantic City. It is famous as a Yellow property on the original Atlantic City version of the Monopoly game board, 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 home-made Monopoly board was copied by Parker Brothers. It was not until 1995 that Parker Brothers acknowledged this mistake and formally apologized to the residents of Marven Gardens for the misspelling. It is the only such property on the game board that is not located within Atlantic City.

The name Marven Gardens is said to be derived from Margate City and Ventnor City, because it lies on the border of Margate City and Ventnor City. 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. Most of the homes were built in the 1920s and 1930s.

For many years, houses in the neighborhood fell into disrepair. During the housing boom of the 2000s, though, many houses changed ownership and have been returned to their former beauty. In the past ten years, a group of residents got grant money from the City of Margate to restore the numerous landscaped islands throughout the development by planting hundreds of rose bushes, junipers and hydrangeas. Marven Gardens is one of the most expensive streets in Margate. It has some of the highest price per square foot rates in New Jersey.

Marven Gardens was also the home of the Welterweight Champion of the World in boxing, Pete Latzo, who held the title between 1926 and 1927. Today, the Latzo home is the residence of Paul Lovett, an artist who does historical pen and ink art of Atlantic City and the Jersey Shore, since 1970.