Historic downtown mansion asks $2M

Officially known as the Ruggles-Smith House, this large, completely renovated property is a City of Austin Historic Landmark. Built around 1896, it has been restored with features and details befitting its age and style, including hardwood floors, custom and stained-glass windows, 11-foot ceiling, three fireplaces, partial brick walls, a wraparound front porch, stone columns, and wrought iron fencing. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Its large lot contains quite a few, ever-more-essential mature shade trees.

The two-story house sits on a small hill, just west of downtown in Judge’s Hill, surrounded by a number of other landmark buildings that often housed state officers and attorneys or their offices—a situation that’s not all that dissimilar from today’s.

Given its location and its size (3,370 square feet), zoning, and apparent current set-up for offices, it offers some usage options: It could be a grand single-family home, a sweet downtown live/work space, or some quite nice offices.

The home has a total of three fireplaces.

There are 11-foot ceilings on both first and second floors.

There also appears to be a finished-out basement apartment or office.

• 1600 Rio Grande Street [Aaron Jistel, ListingSpark]