A huge, custom-designed estate is currently up for auction in southern New Jersey. Although it cost its builders around $27 million to build, the reserve price is only $10 million.
The 37,000-square-foot property is located a 30-minute drive from Philadelphia on the border between Moorestown and Cinnaminson townships. Bids are currently being accepted until October 9, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
The owners of the mega-villa, pharmaceutical entrepreneurs Calvin and Orsula Knowlton, decided to go through an auction after they were unable to find a buyer through a conventional advertisement, the couple told the Journal.
“It’s extremely unique, but it’s especially unique for this area and this particular market,” added Misha Haghani of auction house Paramount Realty USA, which is handling the sale in conjunction with Kevin Steiger of Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty. “It’s a home that has almost no comparables.”
The Knowltons paid $640,000 for the 28,000-square-foot property in 2017. Originally, they only wanted to restore and expand the early 19th-century farmhouse that stood on the property.
The farmhouse, as it turned out, was moldy beyond repair, and its demolition proved to be a bureaucratic nightmare involving the zoning and planning authorities of both municipalities.
In 2018, construction finally began on the ultimately colossal and still-unfinished home project (the Knowltons eventually decided to stop work on the behemoth because its next owner might have different preferences), according to the Journal.
As it stands, the four-story residence boasts amenities like a chapel, home theater, wine cellar, six fireplaces, golf simulator and English-style pub. There’s even what Calvin Knowlton called “the largest reflecting pool I’ve ever seen,” a double-height ceiling foyer with two sweeping staircases, an expansive dining room and a sauna-equipped gym accessed via a “unique tube elevator” in the master suite bathroom, according to the listing.
The exterior was inspired by the Second Empire style City Hall building in Philadelphia.
Although the Knowltons moved into the mansion in 2022, they spend most of their time at their home on Amelia Island in northern Florida and are selling it because they expect to continue to spend most of their time there, they told the Journal.
