Iowa’s Most Expensive Home for Sale Is a 75-Acre Estate Filled With European Artifacts, Asking $10,200,000

Known as Castle Lake Manor, the Toddville estate pairs a roughly 15-acre spring-fed lake and 12-car garage capacity with antique European mantels, stained glass from Uruguay and a hand-carved English pub built into the house.

In rural Linn County, Iowa’s most expensive home currently on the market contains a piece of Sheffield, England, in its lower level, marble from Europe in its fireplaces and stained glass from Uruguay in its architecture.

Castle Lake Manor, at 3187 Feather Ridge Road in Toddville, is asking $10,200,000. Current listings describe the five-bedroom house as spanning 13,114 square feet on 75.5 private acres, with a roughly 15-acre spring-fed lake, another stocked pond, swimming pool and spa, maintained trails and garage space for 12 cars. At the time of publication, the $10,200,000 price places it above other publicly marketed residential properties in Iowa.

Yet acreage alone doesn’t explain the house. Its original owners, the Christophersons, spent years collecting architectural pieces and decorative elements from around the world and incorporating them directly into the residence. The result is less a conventional Midwestern mansion than a collection of European and international artifacts assembled into a house.

When listing agent Holly Lovell first walked inside, she told the Des Moines Register she was “completely mesmerized.” Of the original owners, she added: “There’s so much love put into this.”

The House Was Built Around a Global Collection

Castle Lake Manor’s architectural story is inseparable from the objects acquired for it.

Among them is a Louis XV marble mantel sourced from Montreux, Switzerland, dating to around 1875, according to reporting on the property. Another mantel is carved from green marble in the Rococo style and came from Paris, while stained glass was sourced from Uruguay.

Sculptural lighting came from Argentina and France. The exterior incorporates fossil-rich stone from Oklahoma, giving the house another material connection far beyond its Iowa setting.

Then there is the pub.

Rather than installing a contemporary bar and distressing it to look old, the original owners brought in a hand-carved mahogany pub from Sheffield, England. Integrated into the lower level, it is perhaps the clearest expression of the philosophy behind the house: architectural character was acquired piece by piece rather than imitated with new materials.

Lovell said the Christophersons had “a spectacular taste in history and design and European flair,” a description that helps explain why the residence is difficult to categorize by a single architectural style.

Nine Fireplaces and a House Designed to Be Used

For all of the historical objects, the house isn’t presented as a museum.

Radiant in-floor heating extends throughout the residence, while smart-home technology provides a contemporary layer behind its old-world materials. Nine fireplaces are distributed through the house, reinforcing the estate atmosphere while serving spaces intended for everyday use.

The principal rooms include a great room, drawing room, formal dining room, grand entrance and grand hall. Recreation and entertaining spaces include a private theater, billiards room, fitness facilities and the English pub, while a catering and butler’s kitchen supplements the main kitchen.

The current listing also documents refinished hardwood flooring, refreshed interiors and custom window shades. These interventions appear intended to modernize the experience of living in the house without stripping away the architectural collection that gives it its identity.

Published sources disagree on some of the basic measurements. Current MLS-derived listings report 13,114 square feet, while other reporting has cited 13,411 square feet; public-record information published by Compass gives another finished-area figure. For that reason, the precise finished square footage should be independently confirmed rather than treating the differing figures as interchangeable.

The Current Owners Spent More Than Their Purchase Price on Renovations

Dawn and John Ameling discovered Castle Lake Manor almost accidentally.

Around six years ago, their daughter sent Dawn a social-media post showing the property. Dawn initially assumed she was looking at an estate in California before realizing that the house was in Iowa, according to an account the couple later gave The Wall Street Journal.

They ultimately bought the property in April 2020. Current listing records show a sale of approximately $2,700,000, consistent across several real-estate databases.

What followed was not a light cosmetic update.

According to the information supplied for the property, the Amelings say they have spent more on their yearslong renovation than they paid for the estate itself. They completely renovated the portico, refinished or replaced flooring, addressed the roof, refreshed interiors and continued updating the landscaping and outdoor spaces.

The landscaping work alone totaled approximately $400,000, according to the owners’ published account. They shifted the grounds away from a classic English-estate aesthetic toward an Italian-villa influence and installed exterior lighting around all four sides of the residence.

More recently, the swimming pool and spa systems were updated. The accumulated work is important context for the current asking price because the house being marketed in 2026 isn’t in the same condition as the property purchased six years earlier.

A 15-Acre Lake Changes the Scale of the Property

The house may contain the collection, but the land gives Castle Lake Manor much of its sense of separation.

Approximately 75.5 acres surround the residence, much of it private woodland. Immediately beside the house is a spring-fed lake spanning roughly 15 acres, supplemented by a separate stocked pond.

The scale of that water feature is unusual for a residential property. Rather than functioning as a decorative backyard pond, the lake becomes a defining element of the landscape and occupies an area several times larger than many entire luxury-home parcels.

Maintained trails extend through the grounds, while the swimming pool and spa provide a more formal recreational environment closer to the residence. Covered outdoor living spaces connect the house with those landscaped areas.

The contrast is central to the property: cultivated spaces immediately around the house eventually give way to water, trails and woodland.

That is also part of Lovell’s argument for the Iowa location. Speaking about why a buyer might consider the estate rather than spending the same amount on a coastal property, she said the attraction is having access to regional hubs while gaining “the privacy and a place that you just can’t build anywhere else.”

Twelve-Car Garage Space Adds a Modern Counterpoint

The estate’s old-world interiors are balanced by a decidedly contemporary amenity: garage capacity for 12 vehicles.

Current listing data confirms 12-car parking capacity, making the automotive component substantial even for a house of this scale. The supplied material doesn’t detail the garage’s exact configuration, lift systems or individual bay dimensions, so it would be premature to characterize it as a purpose-built collector gallery without further specifications.

Still, the capacity contributes to a larger theme. Castle Lake Manor was built with enough space for highly specific pursuits rather than merely adding bedrooms.

The same is true inside. A dedicated theater does not have to double as a game room; billiards have their own environment; fitness receives separate space; and the catering kitchen allows large-scale entertaining without turning the primary kitchen into a service area.

With five bedrooms spread across more than 13,000 square feet, relatively little of the home’s size comes from maximizing sleeping capacity. Much of it is instead devoted to entertaining, recreation and circulation on an estate scale.

Readers can explore the complete photography, current availability and additional property details through the Zillow listing here: Castle Lake Manor on Zillow.

From $2,700,000 to $10,200,000—With a Major Renovation in Between

Castle Lake Manor last changed hands in April 2020 for approximately $2,700,000. It had been marketed for $2,699,900 in 2019 before that sale.

The current $10,200,000 asking price is therefore approximately $7,500,000 above the 2020 transaction, or about 277.8%. That difference should not be characterized simply as appreciation.

The Amelings have said their subsequent investment in the property exceeded their original purchase price, and the documented work includes substantial landscaping, exterior and interior improvements, roof work and updates to the pool and spa systems. Without a complete renovation budget and itemized construction costs, it isn’t possible to determine how much of the difference between the 2020 sale and today’s asking price represents capital improvements versus a change in underlying market value.

An even earlier transaction illustrates why historical percentages can be misleading. Public records cited by Realtor.com show a $105,090 transaction in 1997, before the current house was constructed.

There is also a discrepancy over the construction date. Several current MLS-derived sources identify 1999 as the year built, while the owners’ published account describes the five-bedroom house as built in 2001. Without underlying construction records, the safest description is that Castle Lake Manor dates to around the turn of the millennium.

At $10,200,000 and 13,114 square feet, the current asking price equates to approximately $778 per square foot. That calculation, however, doesn’t separately capture 75.5 acres, the roughly 15-acre lake, second pond, pool and spa, 12-car garage capacity or the architectural artifacts incorporated into the residence.

A $10,200,000 Test for Iowa’s Luxury Market

Castle Lake Manor isn’t simply expensive by Iowa standards. Its current asking price puts it in unusual territory for the state’s residential market.

Lovell has said that Iowa’s existing home-sale record is $9,500,000, set by a Spirit Lake property in 2024. If Castle Lake Manor were ultimately to close above that amount, it would exceed that figure. An asking price, however, is not a sale record, and the final transaction—if and when one occurs—will determine whether a new benchmark is established.

That distinction makes the current listing especially interesting. The estate is asking buyers to assign value not only to square footage and acreage but to characteristics that are difficult to reproduce through ordinary construction: a large spring-fed lake, mature grounds and architectural pieces gathered internationally over many years.

The owners’ renovations can be recreated with enough capital. The pool systems can be replaced again, floors refinished and landscaping redesigned. What would be much harder to duplicate is the process that preceded them—the years spent assembling antique mantels, stained glass, carved woodwork and other objects and then designing them into a house in rural Iowa.

That is the more unusual proposition behind the $10,200,000 price. Castle Lake Manor isn’t merely a large Midwestern estate with a long amenity list. It is a house built around a collection, surrounded by enough land and water to create a world largely of its own.

Property Overview

Castle Lake Manor at 3187 Feather Ridge Road in Toddville, Iowa, is offered at $10,200,000. Current listing data gives approximately 13,114 square feet, five bedrooms, six bathrooms and 75.5 acres, though other published sources contain conflicting square-footage and bathroom figures that prospective buyers should verify.

The residence incorporates internationally sourced architectural elements including European marble mantels, lighting from Argentina and France, stained glass from Uruguay, an English hand-carved mahogany pub and fossil-rich Oklahoma stone. Modern amenities include radiant in-floor heating, smart-home technology, a private theater, billiards and fitness spaces, catering facilities, nine fireplaces and garage capacity for 12 vehicles.

The grounds contain an approximately 15-acre spring-fed lake, separate stocked pond, swimming pool and spa, covered outdoor living spaces and maintained trails. The current owners have undertaken extensive improvements since purchasing the estate for approximately $2,700,000 in 2020.

Listing Representation

Holly Lovell of Real Broker, LLC represents Castle Lake Manor. Current national listing databases identify Lovell as the listing agent for the $10,200,000 property.

Lovell described herself as “completely mesmerized” upon first experiencing the house and has emphasized the original owners’ interest in history, design and European influences.

Holly Lovell
Real Broker, LLC
Phone: 319-254-5640