Your Guide to Buying a Home in Margate City, NJ

Buying a Home in Margate City, New Jersey

(Lucy, The Margate Elephant)

Margate City is located in Atlantic County

City of Margate is located on Absecon Island and is approximately 1.50 miles long and 1.0 miles at its widest point. It is bordered by Ventnor City to the Northeast and Longport Borough to the Southwest, with the Atlantic Ocean to the East and Beach Thoroughfare (the "Bay") to the West.
The streets that border Margate are Fredericksburg Avenue on the Ventnor side, and Coolidge Avenue on the Longport side. The majority of the streets in Margate run in alphabetical order beginning with Argyle Avenue and ending with Washington Avenue heading toward Longport, after Washington Avenue the streets are named for Presidents.

Margate City has a long and rich history. Originally known as South Atlantic City, in 1869 the State Legislature paved the way for Margate to be chartered as a municipality.
The extension of a railrod line through the City and the building of a restaurant-hotel in 1881 in the shape of an elephant named "Lucy" began to shape the growth of Margate. To learn more about the history of the City of Margate, contact the Margate Historical Society at 609-823-6546.

 Lucy, The Margate Elephant, an architectural "folly" is a unique, important part of Americana dating to the Victorian Era, when craftsmen hand-fashioned ornate buildings which pleased and delighted our forebearers.

James Vincent de Paul Lafferty, Jr. (1856-98), engineer, inventor and real estate developer owned a tract of beachfront in Margate, then called "South Atlantic City," He decided to erect something novel, as an attraction to draw prospective buyers. Designed by William Free, a Philadelphia architect, and built in 1881 at a cost of $38,000, "Lucy" as the building was subsequently named, attracted visitors who came to marvel at her sheer scale. Visitors would be invited to take a tour, to see the panoramic views from the observation deck or "howdah" on Lucy's back, and to see the tracts of land Lafferty had available for sale.

 Lucy was operated as a tourist attraction for nearly eighty years, offering ten-cent tours. Lucy became familiar to millions throughout the world who have viewed the seascape from her "howdah." Lucy was donated to the City of Margate in 1970.