Editor’s note: This article is part of a series showcasing owners of historic Ocean City homes and their preservation success stories. If you would like to tell your success story, please email maryann@ friendsocnj.org.
By BARBARA SCHMIDT and
MARYANN PIONEGRO-SMITH
Special to the Sentinel
OCEAN CITY – As you drive into the resort via the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, you’ll pass a charming home, with its pointy roof and decorative wooden trim, that resembles an enchanted cottage in an antique children’s storybook.
The “Storybook” house, located behind a picket fence and mature holly trees at 533 West Surf Road, was owned by Nancy McCutcheon for the past 27 years. To her, the 1920s home was a dream fulfilled. Her parents stopped to admire it during Sunday drives in the 1940-1950s. (From the 1950s to 1980s, the home belonged to Gertrude Muller, who rode the famous diving horses at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier.)
In the late 1990s, one year after losing her husband to Parkinson’s, Nancy saw a “for sale” sign on the gate and jokingly told her daughters, “If I buy a house in O.C., you’ll visit me more!” Later on, she bought it, and told them, more seriously, “This is my gift to you!”
A natural-born interior decorator and Master Gardener, Nancy spent years rehabbing inside and out. She planted crepe myrtle, hydrangea, lily of the valley, daisies and butterfly bushes. In later years, Nancy admired her labors from the brick patio, site of many summer birthday celebrations that always included a cake from Ward’s Pastry.
Nancy died in November 2025. Today, her daughters Lauren McCutcheon and Betsy McMillan and granddaughter Emma Karver own the home and work to preserve it.
The house’s Storybook architectural style was first popularized in Southern California in the 1920s, when Hollywood films depicted romanticized medieval European cottages. Film stars were drawn to their asymmetry, dramatic curves and gentle elements of surprise. Storybook dwellings are also found along Philadelphia’s Main Line and some Atlantic seashore towns.
An arched front entryway makes the house seem smaller than it is. Nancy had the stucco exterior painted light gray, with brick and wooden trim in white. The interior is largely as it was 100 years ago: hardwood floors, brick fireplaces, built-in shelves, a stained-glass window, a winding staircase and plenty of windows bringing in light and sea breezes. Whimsy abounds – windows vary in size (one in the primary bedroom has glass French doors that would seem to open to a balcony); the upstairs hallway was built on a curve; the front bedroom’s ceilings slope along the roofline.
Nancy chose a warm, coastal palette for walls and moldings, backdropping wooden furnishings built by her grands and great-grands, including antique hutch tables. On the walls hang family members’ new and century-old embroidery and an original work of grandchildren’s shell art.
The home really does seem of another time.
“We used to call it ‘the witch’s house’ from Hansel and Gretel,” Lauren said. These days, “It’s just home. We feel incredibly lucky to have so many memories here.
“Lucky, too, being on a rare high point on the island which spared us from flooding,” she added. The family would like to rehab the unfinished attic someday, but for now, it’s on Airbnb to pay bills and stave off developers.
“I can’t tell you how many times people have told us that we should just sell, that our home is a tear-down,” Lauren said, “but to us, it’s not just our family’s special place. It’s what makes Ocean City special. Every time a unique old house like ours gets knocked down, our hearts break a little. Homes like ours make this island special.”
