“Secluded” is not a word one would ordinarily use to describe a house near the congested end of the lake’s west shore, especially when the house is bordered by cottages that were once part of a log cabin colony.

Nevertheless, the four-bedroom, 3,700 square-foot house offered by realtor Lonnie Lawrence of Robert W. Leavitt, Inc. merits the description.

Owned by a family prominent in the cultural affairs of Saratoga and Glens Falls, the house is within a few feet of the lake and was built to take advantage of an exposure to the lake and the east shore.

The rear of the house, from which one enters, is deceptively modest (another word rarely applied to modern Lake George houses.) The main floor is designed as a great room, with the kitchen, living and dining areas flowing seamlessly into one another. Bedrooms are arranged off the great room, and a staircase leads to two lower levels, which contain guest rooms and, on the ground floor, a family room.

It’s a house built for hospitality and can obviously easily function as both a family gathering place and a space for large parties, receptions and fund-raisers.

But even the most accommodating hosts and gregarious guests will, on occasion, need some privacy, and the house can accommodate the anti-social as well.

Its auxiliary buildings include a gazebo, a childrens’ playhouse, a screened pavilion with a brick fireplace (evoking, intentionally or not, the comfortable simplicity of the old housekeeping cottages), and an extraordinary artist’s studio.

The property includes 178 feet of shoreline. Two boathouses, one at each end (and one with a boat lift) protect the clear, sandy swimming area, which, it appears, once served the resort’s guests.

“It’s rare to find a house this close to the lake; inside, you feel as if you’re on a boat or floating above the water. It’s truly a lake house,” said Lawrence.

The price for the house, which sits on .669 acres, is $2.5 million.

For more information, contact Lonnie Lawrence at 668-3333.