We’ve featured this home just east of downtown Round Rock, a couple of times—once last year and again recently, when it returned to the market, asking the same $2.5 million it had asked before. Now it’s dropped its price $300,000, to $2.2 million.
Although that’s a formidable pile of cash, and, furthermore, it sounds like the home might not have central air conditioning and heating, we’re still a bit mystified by the lack of a taker. Houses costing $2 million to $3 million are not exactly rare in either certain areas of Austin or in some of the suburbs and gated communities beyond. Most of those homes are smaller and/or farther from central Austin than this beauty.
The 7,826-square-foot home boasts 18 rooms—eight of which are bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms—nine fireplaces, some stunning chandeliers, and a lovely winding staircase. The 1.67-acre property, which takes up an entire city block, also includes a three-room guest house, a two-car garage, a pond, a gazebo, the original barn, a windmill and mature pecan and Magnolia trees.
A three-story, red-brick mansion built around 1885-1900, it's a Texas historic landmark, officially named the A.J. Nelson-Crier House—although its owners in the 1960s called it Woodbine.
According to the Williamson County Historical Commission, the original home, built by the widow and heirs of Swedish immigrant Andrew J. Nelson and designed by Austin's historic and still going strong Page Brothers architecture firm (now called simply Page), was Victorian in style.
• 405 East Main Street, Round Rock [Realty Austin]