MOORESTOWN —Where is the largest residential house in New Jersey and who owns it?
No, it’s not Bruce Springsteen’s horse farm in Colts Neck or Bon Jovi’s mansion on the Navesink River, as one might imagine.
The biggest home in New Jersey can be found at 262 East Main Street in Moorestown, according to Angi.
The 46,000-square-foot house, or rather a mansion, is called Villa Collina, which means Hill House. It is sprawled across 50 acres and owned by Vernon Hill II, the founder of Commerce Bank.
The “Italianate Style” home, made of limestone, sits on a hill with a long tree-lined driveway surrounded by water, according to www.mansionhomesblog.wordpress.com.
Villa Collina (Photo Credit: Townsquare Media)
Villa Collina, which was built in 2002 and expanded in 2006 features:
- A double staircase entrance
- 35-foot ceilings
- A 4,000-square-foot gym
- A library
- An indoor pool
- A greenhouse
- A mini theater
- Two massage rooms
- A 5,000-bottle wine cellar
- A two-floor, 60-car garage
- 94 doors
- An entire west wing covered in a wall of bulletproof glass.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. The house has so much more.
According to a tax casein which the owners filed against their 2008 assessment, the mansion on the hill also includes:
- Cascading waterfalls
- Several reflecting pools
- Six bedrooms
- 11 full bathrooms
- A two-story foyer made of marble
- A fountain of black onyx marble anchors a circular marble staircase to the second floor
- Living room topped by a large circular dome with a Venetian plaster finish
- Three kitchens – two on the first floor and a commercial-size one in the basem*nt
- A hair salon
- Billiards room
- A guest room and quarters for live-in help
- Six storage/pantry rooms
- Two viewing rooms to admire the landscape
- A two-story “Lemon Room,” including actual lemon trees
Villa Collina (Photo Credit: Townsquare Media)
Hill and his wife Shirley are relatively private about their secluded estate, often requiring visitors to sign confidentiality agreements about the property.
The couple reportedly paid $2.1 million for the 44.2 acres of land here.
The Hills filed a tax lawsuit against their 2008 assessment. The municipality had assessed their property at $20.8 million and the court found that the property had a market value of $34.4 million.
In 2020, the Hills tried but failed to get the court to seal the record of their tax case so that the public couldn’t see photos.
But according to The Courier Post, a state judge rejected the Hills’ request to seal the court records. The Hills argued that they would be damaged if the records for their home were made publicly available. The judge disagreed. “The couple’s right to privacy did not outweigh the public interest in assuring the fairness of the process by which property taxes are levied,” said Tax Court Judge Patrick DeAlmeida, as reported by The Courier Post.
So, the next time you feel a twinge of jealousy and want to know how the other half lives, take a ride to Moorestown and check out Villa Collina.
But with 131 windows, they probably go through many bottles of Windex a week.
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Jen Ursillo is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach her at jennifer.ursillo@townsquaremedia.com
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