LEXINGTON - The owner of a 200-year-old mansion that was scheduled to be demolished has agreed to postpone the destruction for 60 days to meet with preservationists.

        Greg Goodman, owner of Mount Brilliant Farm, made the agreement after a public outcry to save the 12-room, two-story mansion on Mount Brilliant Farm, with its massive Doric columns across the front.

        The mansion dates to 1792, the year Kentucky gained statehood.

        Mr. Goodman, president of HGG Investment in Houston, filed July 24 for a demolition permit for the 9,000-square-foot mansion off Russell Cave Road.

        Although the city's Division of Historic Preservation has put a 30-day hold on the permit, it has no power to stop the demolition, which is on private property and not in any specific historic district. The 30-day hold will expire Aug. 25.

        Mr. Goodman has not commented on why he plans to demolish the home.

        Preservationists said they will meet with Mr. Goodman next week, but a date hasn't been set.

        More than 100 people attended an emergency meeting held by the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation on Friday.

        The meeting was devoted to preserving the farm home.

        Attendees discussed embarking on a letter-writing campaign circulating a petition that opposes the demolition.

        Several at the meeting took gentle jabs at Mr. Goodman, implying the Houston native didn't appreciate Kentucky's history.

        Paul Holbrook, chairman of the trust's community preservation committee, said the home is steeped in cultural and political history.

        He said the demolition is for “no apparent reason, save to build a modern house on the site of a piece of Bluegrass history.”

        Talk went beyond the home at Mount Brilliant farm at Friday's urgent meeting.

        Many in the crowd called out for a sustained, targeted effort to create more protection for rural structures with historic significance, perhaps by offering tax credits or other incentives to encourage landowners to undertake often expensive renovations.

        Susan Mullins, executive director of the trust, said dozens of impressive properties could face Mount Brilliant's fate.

        This effort, she said, “has got to go farther than Mount Brilliant.”

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