KIRKWOOD • The Brownhurst mansion on the grounds of Vianney High School appears headed for demolition, now that the deadline for finding a buyer passed Friday.

The Society of Mary, which operates Vianney, intends to ask the city of Kirkwood to approve a permit to demolish the structure, a spokesman said Friday. The deadline was in an agreement between the Marianists and the Kirkwood Landmarks Commission.

Historic preservationists had hoped to save the circa-1890 mansion, said to be both historically and architecturally significant. The house has been a designated Kirkwood landmark since 1989.

Esley Hamilton, the St. Louis County Preservation Historian, said Friday: "I've had more people comment on what a tragedy this is than I have any other issue this year,"

Brownhurst was once the home of entrepreneur and horticulturist Daniel Sidney Brown, whose showplace gardens drew international attention during the 1904 World's Fair. His collection, valued at more than $500,000 at the time, was donated to the Missouri Botanical Garden in 1918 and included rare orchids.

The Marianists on Thursday rejected an offer by a potential buyer — an unidentified Kirkwood resident and philanthropist — who agreed to invest in the property and renovate it but leave it on the Vianney grounds. The buyer had agreed to spend between $500,000 and $2 million to keep the building on the campus as a nonprofit incubator, said Alan Lamberg, a Kirkwood official.

In a statement, the Marianists said: "The proposal is very general and it does not meet the specifications agreed upon at the Landmarks Commission meeting last month — specifically, moving the building off campus and producing a serious buyer with proven financing."

The Marianists had offered to donate $30,000 toward the cost of moving the historic house. They said that on campus it posed a danger to students and visitors, and had been empty for about 20 years.