Lake Livingston laps near the lazy river meandering within a whopper-scaled waterfront pool (top) at a 2006 property that also boasts a “barndominium” (above) with its own 15-car garage, a pool house, a boat house, but no house house. Does it matter? The existing structures come with kitchens and bedrooms, and there are 6 acres of grounds to tend. Price? $2.995 million. That’s down from the $3.4 million asked in previous listings back in 2013 and 2012.
Ready for a flyover?
If you think this pool perched on an eastern bank of Lake Livingston is enormous — and with a jetted “lazy river” and 2 islands included it certainly is — just wait until you see the house that comes with it. You’ll be waiting for a while, though, because it isn’t built yet. This main-house-less property, which has been on the market on and off since spring of 2012 for $3.4 million, has a homesite all picked out — it’s just up the steps at the lower left of the photo immediately above. There’s a pool house and a boathouse and even an arbor structure already set up — just no house house.
While you’re waiting for one to show up, though, why not stay a while in the on-site warehouse? It’s got built-in living quarters:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE BETTER LAKE 
“Wrong lake? Would you prefer rush hour on Lake Conroe? Shoulder to shoulder and all the noise?
The area of Lake Livingston is 129.7 sq miles compared to Lake Conroe of 32.81 sq miles. Four times as large.
Lake Livingston is fed from the Trinity River which flows from North of Dallas (almost Red River / Oklahoma line) while Lake Conroe is fed from the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. This matters greatly if it doesn’t rain or if Houston is too thirsty.
Avg depth in Lake Livingston is 55 feet compared to 20.5 feet for Lake Conroe.
In short Lake Livingston is far less congested, four times as large, much more stable water level, and much deeper. You choose but I chose Lake Livingston and love every minute of it and don’t forget the ability to head up the Trinity River a long long ways for other large bodies of water and calm surfaces for wake boarding and water skiing.” [Scharpe, commenting on A Newish Lakeside Estate in Coldspring Looks Back] Illustration: Lulu
A waterfront estate in Coldspring’s Paradise Cove on Lake Livingston pumps up the nostalgia. It’s not just the charming merry-go-round (top), a tilted bit of grandchild bait strategically placed on the grounds. Built in 2007, the sprawling, multi-peaked home mirrors grand-scale cottage escapes of another era. The references play out in the home’s scale and interior sprinklings of somewhere-in-time architectural “finds” from round-the-world. Vintage touches blend in with modern building materials made to look old, such as the exterior’s bricks and replica slate roof with griffin and copper finials. Meanwhile, the chimney stacks hail from England, the front door from France, and the gazebo from Egypt. How convincing is the assembly? Only the custom newel posts from New England get a close-up in any of the listing photos, which also indicate a penchant for heavy, dark-stained trim, red velvet accents, and claw foot tubs.
