‘Incredibly unique’ NJ mansion that cost $27M to build heads for auction with $10M reserve price

A massive custom estate is now up for auction in southern New Jersey — and although it cost its creators an estimated $27 million to build, the reserve price is just $10 million.

Located a 30-minute drive from Philadelphia, on the border of two townships — Moorestown and Cinnaminson — the nearly 40,000-square-foot complex is currently accepting offers through October. 9, the Wall Street Journal first reported.

The megamansion’s owners, pharmaceutical entrepreneurs Calvin and Orsula Knowlton, decided to try the auction route after trying to find a buyer through a traditional listing, the married couple told the Journal.

“It’s extremely unique, but it’s extremely unique especially for this particular neighborhood and this particular market,” added Misha Haghani of auction house Paramount Realty USA, which is handling the sale in collaboration with Kevin Steiger of Kurfiss Sotheby’s International Realty. “It’s a house for which there is almost no compensation.”

Knowlton paid $640,000 for the 7-acre property in 2017. Originally, and simply, they planned to restore and expand the early 1800s-era farmhouse on the land.

The farmhouse turned out to be moldy beyond repair, but its demolition proved a bureaucratic nightmare involving the town’s zoning and planning authorities.

Finally, in 2018, construction began on what turned out to be a colossal and still-unfinished home-building endeavor (the Nëltons eventually decided to stop work on the behemoth, as its future owner may have preferences of different), according to the Journal.

As it stands, the four-story mansion boasts amenities including a chapel, a home theater, a wine cellar, six fireplaces, a golf simulator and an English-style pub. There’s also what Calvin Knowlton called “the most gigantic reflecting pool I’ve ever seen,” a double-height lobby with double curved staircases, a grand dining room, and a sauna-equipped gym accessible from the listing describes like “a unique tube lift” in the master suite bathroom.

The exterior was inspired by Philadelphia’s Second Empire style city hall building.

Although the Knowltons moved into the mansion in 2022, they have spent most of their time at their home on North Florida’s Amelia Island and are selling because they anticipate continuing to be there mostly, they told the Journal.