As seen on TV The Snyders' Troy Hill home.

Photos by Darrell Sapp
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Trevor Snyder stands on the front porch of his house on Lowrie Street in Troy Hill. Click photo for larger image.

Trevor and Sara Snyder were living in a small condominium in South Oakland when they saw this Troy Hill house on a Sunday morning real estate show. Mr. Snyder had always sworn he wouldn't buy an old house, "because I didn't want to spend my weekends repairing it."

But this Second Empire-style house built in the late 1870s seemed awfully cheap, considering its murals, decorative ceilings and beautiful woodwork.

"What's wrong with it?" they said to each other. Not much, they decided, after visiting on a cold day in January 2004. "It was too good to pass up," he said.

Their house on Lowrie Street is one of 10 stops today on the Troy Hill Home & Historic Tour. The tour runs from noon to 3 p.m., and tickets, $15, are available at its starting point, North Catholic High School, 1400 Troy Hill Road.

Since Trevor and his wife, Sara, moved in in March 2004, they have had both porches rebuilt, four chimneys repointed and the roof and a 50-year-old furnace replaced. They were drawn to the house by details like the original front door with a sliding keyhole cover.