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Spirited move

Just past a bend in a long, tree-lined private drive, the house comes into view. There is a moment when the impulse is just to stop and stare.

addition, with soaring ceilings and altars used as cabinet bases.
addition, with soaring ceilings and altars used as cabinet bases.Read moreThe kitchen, part of the Lutzes'

Just past a bend in a long, tree-lined private drive, the house comes into view. There is a moment when the impulse is just to stop and stare.

Maganda, the Lutz estate on the Rancocas Creek in Moorestown, truly earns the word awesome.

Its vast scope, its Georgian, Southern, European, and Colonial elements, and surely its setting, make this an extraordinary house by any standard.

Step inside the foyer-rotunda, and you see such elegance, such grace, so much antiquity - and style. It's a delightfully unexpected blend.

Just as unexpected are the home's utterly down-to-earth owners, Susan and Richard Lutz, who share this vast space with their daughter Chandler, 14, and a much-loved tiny white Maltese dog named Goober. There is clearly a deep love for Maganda, which translates from Tagalog as "beautiful."

"This is just home for us," insists Susan, 49, an electrical engineer with pixie charms and a size-2 frame, who shares her husband's passion for collecting antiques and church artifacts. And Richard Lutz, 48, is definitely a seeker.

The couple wed in 1990, and went off to England and then the Philippines. They returned several years later to create and then sell an Internet company during the dot-com boom, and to found another, the worldwide Internet security company called ETSec, based in Mount Laurel.

The Lutz family settled in Medford, in an old country home filled with treasures from their travels. But when a nearby housing development changed the once-rural landscape, Susan and Richard knew their days there were numbered.

In July 1999, they first saw the imposing mansion on the Rancocas, a home that is believed to date back to 1682. Richard knew it was going to be theirs. Susan was a bit less certain.

But by year's end, they became the slightly apprehensive 41st owners of what was known as Rancocas Springs Farm. The Lutz family would totally transform it, creating a new wing that blends harmoniously with the old.

In excavating for the home's large two-story addition, thousands of mussel shells, remnants of French china, and American Indian artifacts were found and carefully stored for future research.

In spring 2000, before they had even moved into the house, Richard Lutz presented his wife with a surprise as a 10th-anniversary gift: a chapel on the property, complete with rare stained-glass windows.

"It has made both of us more spiritual," says Susan. "It's just a beautiful place to be."

And on Dec. 24, 2000, the couple and their daughter finally moved into the house.

The entertainment center for the home's interior is the great room and kitchen area with its soaring ceiling, spectacular chandeliers that once graced a grand movie palace in Boston, and altars used as kitchen base cabinets.

A grand staircase lined with old religious drawings leads to a balcony with spectacular views of Rancocas Creek.

Just off the great room is a garden room, a cozy retreat with lush plants and comfortable furniture, one of the intimate spaces interspersed with the home's grander ones.

A show-stopping architectural highlight is the central core rotunda, and a chandelier discovered by Richard Lutz on eBay - yes, eBay. It originally hung in New York's legendary Intercontinental Hotel.

The home's original space is meticulously preserved, with a formal living room-parlor, an elegant dining room, and a home office where a massive carved antique partner's desk allows Susan and Richard to catch up on paperwork. The conference table that was once in the boardroom of the John Wanamaker department store and a rare Steinway square grand piano are in the office.

Deep blues, reds, and golds are the dominant colors in the original home, with a vibrant, patterned wallpaper in those colors covering the stairway ceilings. Upstairs, a master bedroom with elegant antiques and a master bathroom with tumbled marble walls and flooring also features a massive buffet transformed into a double sink, and a shower with a sparkling insert of stained glass from a church.

Chandler Lutz, who is a singer with a CD already to her credit, has a wonderful bedroom for a teenage girl - and a recording studio on the grounds.

Also on the grounds are some four-legged residents who arrived last year. Six certified alpacas, adorable and friendly, now have their own space at Maganda, and the Lutzes have plans to breed them.

Watching over this small kingdom is a plaster version of the famous RCA terrier, Nipper, that became synonymous with the company's early years as the Victor Talking Machine Co. The Lutzes purchased it during a Moorestown arts campaign that had area artists create these sculptures as a fund-raising project.

As much as they enjoy their home privately, Susan and Richard Lutz also are committed to using it to host the charity balls for the Dream Foundation, which grants the wishes of adults with life-limiting illnesses. For the last five years, hundreds of guests have attended the organization's annual Angel Ball at Maganda, where the couple greet each guest personally.

"We love entertaining with a purpose," says Susan Lutz, whose diminutive size belies a soaring spirit and an expansive heart. "We are so blessed, but not everybody is. We're here on this Earth to help others."