749 Central Ave, Hammonton, NJ 08037

Built in 1936, on the best street in Hammonton, on three-quarters of an acre. Somebody in the middle of the Great Depression had their act together. 749 Central makes its case from the curb: the entire first floor faced in rough-cut granite under a broad hipped roof with deep eaves, five bays across, perfectly symmetrical, with a pedimented portico on Tuscan columns over the front door. A U-shaped drive loops in and out, so no one backs onto Central. Eight mature sycamores line the left side of the property, bark flecking the way only old sycamores do, with newly planted Leland cypress along the drive. Then you open the door, and the floors stop you. Not hardwood — inlaid hardwood. A double-striped border of contrasting dark wood runs the perimeter of the parlor, dining room, sunroom and center hall, mitered at every corner like a picture frame, with a parquet field at the foot of the stairs. No one is paying for that work anymore, and there is no way to add it later. The rest of the...