Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette This view from the roof shows the three decks and opens onto a wide vista of the neighborhood. Click photo for larger image. 13th Annual Historic South Side House Tour WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, rain or shine. COST: $15, children under 12 not permitted. Ethnic lunch, $10, at Brashear Association, 2005 Sarah St. WHERE: Tickets, maps available beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Carnegie Library, South Side branch, 2205 E. Carson St., or UPMC South Side, 2000 Mary St. INFORMATION: 412-977-6186 or www.southsidepgh.com.

Chris Spadacene and Heather Case fell in love with the 2 1/2-story row house at 113 Pius St. on first sight. It was just at different times and for completely different reasons.

Spadacene discovered the South Side property first, in 2001, when the century-old building came up for sale for the first time in more than 50 years. Unfulfilled by his job as an investment consultant, the Erie native had decided to try his hand at remodeling while he searched for a new profession. The house, which had served as an American Legion post from 1946 to 2001, seemed like the perfect first project. Not only was it big and loaded with potential, it was cheap (just $25,000).

"It was something to keep me busy while I refocused and figured out what I really wanted to do," he said.

Case happened onto the house 14 months later, after Spadacene's basement-to-attic renovation was complete. With 2,400 square feet of living space and three levels of great views of the neighborhood, the house was perfect for the 32-year-old lawyer and boyfriend Tom Banchand. And its neutral color scheme (cream walls, tan carpeting) meant she could take her time deciding what colors she really wanted.

"I loved the fact that it was completely done," says Case, a real estate lawyer who was then renting an apartment on 17th Street. Most houses in her price range needed a lot of work, she said, "and seriously, when am I going to have time to do anything?"

"We didn't want to live in a construction zone," agreed Banchand, who is earning his Realtor's licence.

Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette Today's South Side House Tour will stop at an old American Legion post, where arches cut into the dining room wall picture-frame the staircase. Click photo for larger image.

Though the $185,000 asking price was a stretch, the three new decks on the rear of the house cinched the deal.

"Once I saw the view, it didn't seem so high," Case said, laughing.

Chances are you'll be swept away by the sweeping cityscapes below, too, if you visit the home as part of today's 13th annual Historic South Side House Tour.

Home to dozens of funky shops, galleries, restaurants and bars, the South Side is one of the city's most vibrant destinations. But the neighborhood, which is divided between the "flats" along the Monongahela River and the "slopes" below the cliffs of Mount Washington, also boasts some of the region's most interesting architecture. Along with row houses built during the Civil War, this local and national historic district features many Italianate, Victorian Gothic and Second Empire-style houses.

In addition to Case's turn-of-the-century home in the Slopes, the tour features eight other properties, including a former bottling company that has been converted to office space and loft apartments, an Italianate home built in the early 1880s and a Queen Anne with a paneled staircase and marble vestibule. The self-guided tour, sponsored by the nonprofit South Side Local Development Co., also includes a presentation on the ancient Chinese philosophy of feng shui by Yvonne Phillips of Creative Color & Design Chinese from 1 to 2 p.m. at Lithuanian Hall, 1721 Jane St. An ethnic lunch ($10) will be offered from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Brashear Association, 2005 Sarah St.

Like most of the buildings on the tour, Case's home has a long and unusual history. The first floor was built between 1865 and 1870 by French immigrants George and Catharine Klein, who raised six children in the one-story house. German immigrants Mary and Aloysius Berlinger, who purchased the house in 1904 and lived in it until their deaths in the early 1940s, added the second and third floors a few years later. Their heirs sold the house to the American Legion, Hillside Post 875, chartered in 1946.

The first floor was used as meeting space, while the second and third floors housed a two-bedroom apartment for the caretaker. The basement, graced with an elaborate pressed-tin ceiling, housed the bar.

The lodge was in fairly bad shape when Spadacene bought it in 2001 from one of the last surviving members. Empty for several years, its walls and floors were sagging and the plumbing didn't work.

"It needed more than just TLC," says Spadacene, who spent close to a month clearing its rooms of junk.

	Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette In the second-floor bathroom, tan-and-blue glazed walls (created with a crumpled-up plastic Giant Eagle bag) contrast with the white tiled countertops. Click photo for larger image.

He took down some interior walls, pulled up the old linoleum floors, replaced all the windows, installed a new heating and cooling system and put on new pebble-colored vinyl siding.

Where he could, Spadacene retained the turn-of-the-century architectural details that give the house much of its charm. In the bar area, for instance, he ripped off several layers of plaster and drywall to reveal the brick walls, which he repointed and cleaned. He also restored the tin ceiling and painted it a majestic bronze. Upstairs, he uncovered two original brick fireplaces and restored the beautiful mahogany-finished staircase leading to the second floor.

One of his most elegant, and thoughtful, touches can be found in the dining room, where he cut three large arches into a wall that originally hid the staircase from view.

"I wanted to picture frame the staircase," he explained.

In decorating the house, Case and Banchand -- who subscribe to the less-is-more philosophy of design -- have kept things serene and simple. Wood plantation blinds on the many windows let in sunshine when it's wanted, and the open floor plan creates a feeling of warmth and spaciousness.

They have, however, infused the house with color. The kitchen, once a cloak room and ladies bathroom, is energized by warm tangerine walls while the living and dining rooms bear a soothing coat of soft sage. The powder room, conversely, is a bold brick red sponged with metallic silver.

With its overstuffed leather couches and working fireplace, the living room is especially comfortable. Glass-topped circular tables hold candles and books. A Mission-style table topped by a large mirror holds a vase of hydrangeas.

The brick fireplace in the dining room holds a pot of eucalyptus instead of logs and is framed by two giant Gerwin-Vegal speakers on either side.

Krista Schinagl, Post-Gazette The 13th annual South Side House Tour will include this house that used to be a former American Legion hall.. Click photo for larger image.

"We consider them furniture," Case joked.

In the kitchen, the maple cabinets pick up the earth tones of the rustic Italian tile floor, while the granite-like laminate countertops and black appliances add a more contemporary touch. The stainless-steel sink looks out through a double window onto a giant weeping willow that frames another view of the neighborhood.

The second floor holds two bedrooms with enormous closets, one of which is used as a home office. In the bathroom, tan-and-blue glazed walls (created with a crumpled-up plastic Giant Eagle bag) contrast with the taupe ceramic tile floor and white tiled countertops.

The third level holds a third bedroom with a full bath that Case is currently renting out to her younger brother, Brian, an industrial engineer with Foraxis Design Solutions. Outfitted with a huge flat-screen TV, this sleek space is the ultimate bachelor's pad. It's also a great place from which to watch fireworks. Spadacene built the original dormer out to include a small deck that overlooks the weeping willow.

"The view progresses as you move up," he pointed out.

"We sit out here at night and look at the traffic on the Parkway and think, 'What a nightmare,'" added Banchand.

The basement game room, where the couple spends most of their time, is rustic and informal. A large gas fireplace in the brick wall means you'll never feel cold in the winter. In the corner behind the TV, a dumbwaiter is used to carry food up and down between floors.

Back in the day, the members used to get Steelers down here," said Spadacene. "They'd give 'em a bottle of booze and 25 bucks to sit and talk with the patrons."

The bar, of course, is long gone. So is the trough urinal that decorated the original men's bathroom that Spadacene turned into a storeroom. But Case and Banchand have a few lodge artifacts uncovered during the renovation, including a wooden gavel, a Polish Bible and a white-and-blue meeting sign (First Sundays).

"I like a home with a history," said Case. "This place had a story."