Someone calculated what it would cost to build Hogwarts — and it’s not cheap

If you’ve ever dreamed of being admitted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the cost of attending is probably the last thing on your mind. I mean, come on, it’s not every day a regular ‘ol muggle gets accepted to Hogwarts!

You may not know, however, that, according to a Tweet from Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling, attending Hogwarts is actually free thanks to the Ministry of Magic that covers all magical education! While that is seriously magically, it was definitely not free to build such an elaborate building. With several floors, an underground level and multiple towers, the Ministry of Magic must have a ton of cash to build the school and keep it tuition-free.

To estimate just how much and what parts of the building cost the most, Bigrentz.com did a little math and came to one conclusion: constructing Hogwarts would definitely not be cheap.

At 414,000 square feet, the castle structure alone would cost nearly $170 million, according to Bigrentz’s research. Factor in $175,000 for greenhouses, $870,000 for the Great Hall, more than $1 million for the Quidditch pitch, nearly $2.5 million for the one-eyed witch passage and an additional $400,000 for Hagrid’s hut and you are looking at a cool $174.5 million, based on Bigrentz.com’s calculations.

There have been other, differing calculations on the cost of building Harry Potter’s alma mater. In 2013, real-estate blogger David Cross estimated the cost to be $204.1 million factoring in its size, comparable properties and location, but excluding the Quidditch field and Hagrid’s shack.

Neither estimate includes the magical things find inside the castle, like a moving staircase and a bathtub that’s more like a swimming pool, so if you factor all of that in, you’re probably looking at even more than $200 million.

If you want a more affordable — but still pretty awesome — way of building Hogwarts, check out Lego’s massive new kit.

Other Pricey Properties

Bigrentz.com also estimated the cost to build some other pretty famous pop-culture properties, including the Bat Cave, USS Enterprise, The Wall from “Game of Thrones” and The Death Star, all of which cost way more than Hogwarts.

The Bat Cave, while more expensive than Hogwarts, is the second cheapest on the list, coming in at $368 million for the cave, supercomputer, lab, secret entrance, batwing and Batmobile. The USS Enterprise is next, but we’re now leaving the millions territory with the “Star Trek” vessel costing around $27 billion. But hey, you’re talking some seriously awesome stuff here like deflector shields and photon torpedos!

Oh, and that wall made of ice from “Game of Thrones”? Well, it’s 700 feet tall and you’d also need to build Castle Rock for defense and an elevator to get to the top. Set aside $167 billion if building the wall is on your to-do list.

Finally, even the richest person in the world couldn’t own the Death Star from “Star Wars.” At $17.5 nonillion, according to Bigrentz, just the cost of the laser on board the space station is so high that even adding all the other costs makes it roughly the same amount rounded. Even if you could afford it, it would require 800,000 years to make given the current rate of steel production.

What iconic building from pop culture would you most like to visit?