The house that Jane Holmes built sits on almost five acres along Swissvale Avenue in Wilkinsburg, tucked behind an iron fence and mature trees and shrubs. With its gracious second-story porch, perennial gardens and expansive lawns, the buttery yellow brick house and its setting seem to belong to another place and time.

Miss Holmes didn't build this sprawling home for herself. She opened it in 1871 as the Home for Aged Protestant Women, and for 136 years it welcomed women, and eventually men, who had no other place to go and could afford to contribute to their upkeep.

Now, with the closing of Jane Holmes Residence and Gardens last fall, the name of one of Pittsburgh's most generous and socially conscious 19th-century philanthropists seems destined to disappear from the landscape, although not entirely. A historical marker at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children, which she founded, was installed and dedicated last spring, honoring Miss Holmes as a "distinguished philanthropist and humanitarian," one whose "pioneering efforts in charitable giving have served those in need, regardless of race, ethnicity, class, or gender."

Now the 100-room house is for sale. A number of institutions have expressed interest in purchasing it, said Cindy Kamin, senior vice president for the commercial realty firm CB Richard Ellis.

"We don't have an offering price," Ms. Kamin said. "It's very hard to put a value on it when it's vacant. We're asking the market to determine what the market price will be."

Today and tomorrow, the remaining contents of the residence will be sold at a tag sale inside the home.

"Everything's priced to sell," said estate liquidator Sydney B. Moore. "No reasonable offer refused."

There are round oak Mission-style dining tables and chairs, wood card tables and chairs, antique light fixtures, church pews, dishes, pots and pans, linens, blankets, residential and commercial washer and dryers, three John Deere riding mowers, occasional chairs, folding chairs, lift chairs and wheelchairs. Also for sale are organs, beds, chests, dressers, china cabinets, iron and oak benches, glassware, shutters, televisions, tools, office equipment, garden tools and medical supplies. Special items include a Baldwin Acrosonic upright piano ($495) and a Brunswick pool table ($4,200).

But the finest antiques -- 46 lots, including a golden oak dining suite, twig furniture and 19th-century landscape paintings -- already have left the building. They will be sold at Dargate Auction Galleries on Jan. 25-27.

The board decided to close the facility after consultants studied its long-term future. A letter sent to volunteers and supporters cited changes in the elderly care industry and a low residence population as contributing factors.

The building and grounds alike have been well maintained; new windows and a new roof had been installed in recent years and the exterior painted.

Jane Holmes Residence comprises several attached structures completed between 1871 and 1980. The original building was designed by the Downtown firm Barr & Moser in the Italianate style. With 50 bedrooms, each with a private bath, it has the air of a genteel Victorian hotel.

The institutions interested in purchasing the house want to maintain it, Ms. Kamin said, and could benefit from federal tax credits. While the house is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it likely would qualify under at least one criterion -- association with the lives of persons significant in our past.

Jane Holmes, born in 1805, was an Irish immigrant whose brother, William B. Holmes, was a wholesale grocer and president of the Mechanic's Bank. As unmarried adults in the last half of the 19th century, they and their two siblings, John and Mary, shared a house on Penn Avenue, about where the Gateway Center 2 office tower is now, when Penn Street was Pittsburgh's posh street. Known as "Lady Bountiful," Jane Holmes, backed by family money, became one of Pittsburgh's earliest philanthropists, contributing more than $1 million (about $21 million in today's dollars) to establish or support institutions that aided the sick, poor, elderly and orphaned.

Hours for the estate sale at the Jane Holmes Residence, 441 Swissvale Ave., Wilkinsburg, are 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and tomorrow. Professional movers will load items into vehicles; delivery is available for a fee. For more information about the estate sale, call Ms. Moore at 412-835-3105.