Layers of Lake Union views in this Gas Works Park houseboat

This home in the Fremont and Wallingford area has two bedrooms, one bathroom, and views of the lake from every floor. It doesn’t hurt that it’s literally floating on top of Lake Union.

The home is split-level, leaving more room for the two bedrooms below and letting even more light into the living areas on the main floor.

A full kitchen, including a large gas range and a dishwasher, is a great thing to have in 864 square feet. Here, it’s designed around a bay-like window configuration full of water views.

From the living room, French doors lead to a dock—and to a spiral staircase to a roof deck. This is what makes a boxy floating residence design so appealing: You can take full advantage of its footprint for soaking up the lakeside sun.

Now for the logistics: While “houseboat” is a more familiar term to use, this is a house barge with floating-on-water residence (FOWR) status, one of fewer than 40 in Seattle. It’s ready for navigation, but doesn’t have a means of moving itself around, like a motor—still, it’s closer to a houseboat than a floating home.

Not that you’d want to move it anytime soon; you can’t beat the backyard. Since it’s moored at Gas Works Park Marina at the eastern edge of Gas Works Park, mainland outdoor fun is just a matter of feet away.

The barge, the roof deck, the spot off Gasworks Park, and a decent amount of space for living on the water—plus plenty of storage—come together for $585,000.

• 2143 N Northlake Wy 63 [Colleen McCann]