Jim and Jacky Mohn stand on the small porch at their home on Birch Street in Butler recently. Their home in the past was used as a blacksmith shop and plumber's shop. The stable doors are a remnant of the access for horses during the original blacksmith show.

Few city dwellers have plumbing on their rooftops or ground floor doorways big enough for cars. And few walk as many stairs each day as Jim and Jacky Mohn.

Living in the loft of a former blacksmith shop-turned plumbing business, the Butler couple gets a daily workout along with their penthouse view.

"Jim always wanted to live in a house on top of a hill," said Jacky, whose grandchildren have always enjoyed watching trains go by from a kitchen window, which also overlooks a former school athletic field.

"It's very convenient."

According to verbiage in an old deed, the Mohns' house was used as a blacksmith shop before being bought in the 1950s by George Whitehill, a plumber whose son was friends with Jim.

Although the 42-by-42-foot structure contains three stories, the sloping landscape allows entry on one side from the second floor.

The lower level's brick interior walls still contain hardware for tethering horses. A hook of some sort — the Mohns speculate for hay — remains attached to the outside of the building above the living room balcony door.

A square cupola Jim Mohn calls a "dog house" was likely added when Whitehill ran the plumbing topside, installing spigots for watering a former rooftop garden.

At that time, Jim Mohn said the building was styled after Spanish haciendas, with a stucco-covered exterior and pipes painted on the roof to resemble Spanish tiles.

The interior was outfitted with multiple cubbies containing plumbing supplies, which the Mohns removed to create their home's warm interior with built-in cupboards and large windows that span three of the great-room's four walls.

The Mohns moved into the house 24 years ago, Jim having told the former owners to let him know if they ever planned to sell.

"I thought it was a nice place to retire into someday," Jim said.

Now 80 and 75 years old respectively, Jim and Jacky moved in before retiring from their jobs — Jim as an accountant and Jacky a dietician — but both have enjoyed their rooftop view.

"If this would have been mushroomed into someplace I probably never would have bought it," Jim said.

The downside of living on an upper floor is that some would-be guests cannot navigate stairs.

But the Mohns say the stairs keep them fit, and the small paved lot has no yard to mow.