Editor’s note: This article is part of a new series showcasing owners of Ocean City historic homes and their preservation success stories. If you would like to tell your success story, please email maryann@friendsocnj.org.
OCEAN CITY – John Zdon grew up in Marlton and the beach was usually just a day trip for his family. As he grew older, he started to venture out on his own and Ocean City became a common destination. After marriage to wife Cheryl and the birth of children, they wanted a family vacation destination to build memories. Ocean City became that place.
During the children’s college years John’s job changed and with travel he started to earn free stays at Marriott in the fall and winter. They found themselves at the old Marriott in Somers Point and during those stays their love for Ocean City was solidified. They began to investigate the possibilities of owning something on the island.
Due to their limited budget, they looked at older homes or post-Superstorm Sandy fixer-uppers. They searched the island for a few years and finally found a North End single-family home in 2016, originally built about 100 years ago. The first two floors mirrored each other with three bedrooms and a bathroom. The finished attic was a small one-bedroom apartment.
Knowing they’d found an older beach home gave them a certain sense of charm and wonder. They love to investigate the home’s history and are excited to discover the people and memories that their home allowed others to create.
They made small renovations and began to discover the inner bones of the home. Two years ago, they purchased the attic condo from the estate of their dear friends. The task of gutting the third floor really allowed them to see the potential hidden under multiple layers of modernization. John’s work background in the trades offered the DIY mentality of taking on the project. Cheryl has the vision of restoration, and John executes, always honoring the past while making the home livable and modern.
They came to a point where they decided to work with what they had, realizing you can’t make everything perfect, but rather try to perfect and enhance the imperfections. Just like the recently restored floors on both levels tell their own stories of room layout, where old rag cloth rugs once laid and where wiring and insulations changes were made. They added modern amenities like air conditioing, but hid it in a way that doesn’t draw attention, and also added vintage pieces of furniture found in the home during its early years. Cheryl’s great-grandmother’s ice box is now a bathroom vanity, and an old cedar hope chest serves as a storage cabinet for a sofa bed’s linens. An old vintage dresser has been slipped into a knee wall and serves as a dresser yet saves on floor space.
As John says, “Stumbling upon an old home in Ocean City has been an adventure we have never regretted and look forward to the continued journey. We love our old home and our town!”
– By RICHARD BARTH and MARYANN PIONEGRO-SMITH/For the Sentinel