Judges for the third annual PG Renovation Inspiration Contest were perplexed when they first looked at the photos of a Point Breeze project. Which was the "before " and which was the "after"?

One picture showed a tall, century-old brick house with a balanced set of historically accurate arched, double-hung and casement windows. In the other photo, the windows were all wrong, with odd art-decoish railings covering the bottom of two windows and the third-floor gable nearly filled with glass.

Luckily, the first photo turned out to be the "after." Judges from the PG and the contest's co-sponsor, the Community Design Center of Pittsburgh, chose the house on South Linden Avenue as a runner-up in the large category, for projects costing more than $50,000.

Even better, Sarah and Ben Davies chose to buy the house before the renovation was complete. Both surgeons, they moved from San Francisco back to Pittsburgh, where they had done their residencies, and had their first child, Ilan, a week ago.

"It's a classic beautiful Victorian that retains its Victorian qualities but has the modern amenities to make it livable," Ben Davies said of the house.

He gives all the credit to contractor Monroe "Rody" Nash, his wife, Liz, and architect Jack Lasky, Mrs. Nash's father. The Nashes, who live nearby, initially wanted to buy the house for themselves but decided it was more space -- 3,800 square feet -- than they needed. So Mr. Nash's company, TerraForma Inc., undertook a 10-month project that included drastically changing the floor plan, and demolishing and rebuilding a rear addition that once contained stairs leading to a third-floor apartment. The biggest challenge was putting back the feeling of age that previous owners had erased, Mr. Nash said.

"All of the trim and charm had been taken out, and the front part of the house looked like a doctor's office."

More "before" photos prove his point. They show a maze of cramped, dark rooms leading back to the odd stair tower addition at the rear. A painted brick fireplace huddles in the corner of the living room, and the dining room wall is more painted brick, the back of a chimney for a fireplace in a sunken family room. Two huge openings on either side of the chimney offered the previous owners a bird's-eye view of the family room.

Facing what Mr. Lasky called "a disaster," he and the Nashes decided to remove nearly every wall and the rear addition, gut the house down to the studs and start over. They work well as a team, said Mr. Lasky, a Shaler resident.

"I draw a set of plans and put them on the table. Everyone expresses ideas and we come up with one solid plan."

Other than the leaded-glass transoms on two front windows, there weren't many original elements to save. What is so impressive is that much of the house looks original, due to the careful design and choice of materials.

A few examples:

• The living room's wood-burning fireplace is still in a corner but now wears a simple painted wood mantel and granite surround with two square windows that are much more authentic in scale.

• A new gas-burning fireplace was cut into the dining room chimney and is surrounded by a painted paneled wall with lots of built-in shelving -- exactly the kind of wall found in surrounding houses of the period.

• The kitchen, three full baths and two powder rooms have identical ebony granite counters with a matte, honed finish. Old-fashioned subway tile is complemented by classic black-and-white tile in traditional patterns. "Black and white are nice colors if treated right," Mr. Lasky said.

• Ceilings are at least 10 feet and paneled doors 8 feet tall with 8-inch high baseboards to maintain scale.

Stevenson Woodwork of Sewickley, a favorite subcontractor of Mr. Nash , fashioned the kitchen's custom cabinetry, vanities, built-ins and paneled wall. Andersen's architectural series windows were used as focal points in two places. Icynene insulation was blown into the exterior walls and dormered roof. Kenyon Roofing of Bellevue repaired the roof and rebuilt and relined the wooden box gutters with traditional terne metal.

The second and third floors were just as thoughtfully designed. The large master suite, with one of five large bedrooms, has a bright sitting room separated from the bedroom and bath by french doors.

"I thought the owners would want to shut the doors and have some space to themselves," said Mrs. Nash, who came up with the idea.

The Davies, the beneficiaries of these design decisions, were able to choose the colors, fixtures and finishes of their new home. They also asked for solid oak floors on the second floor to match those on the first.

"We're into design," Ben Davies said. "My wife has the aesthetic eye. We tried to match the furniture to the house's style."

Furniture came from Weisshouse and Danish modern stores like Room & Board.

One of two bedrooms on the spacious third floor is used as the "parrot room," inhabited by Chulo and Deacon, an African gray and Jardines parrot, respectively.

"We made that room purple for them, but I think they might be color blind," Ben Davies said, laughing.

The former apartment's angled ceilings range from 8 to 12 feet high and the space includes a wet bar, kitchenette and rooftop deck with views in winter of Oakland and the Downtown skyline.

"The fun thing is that it looks like the house that should be there," Mr. Nash said. "We went to great lengths to get the look that it belongs."

Kevin Kirkland can be reached at kkirkland@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1978.