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If it wasn’t for Marie Youssoupoff, the 230-year-old Nathan Denison House in Forty Fort would had been demolished in 1927.

Youssoupoff, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1919, was the oriental rug connoisseur at the Boston Store in Wilkes-Barre when she purchased the Denison property, saving the historic home from intentional wreckage.

“Buyer Restores Historic House; Rescues Denison Mansion at Stone Bridge from destruction,” read the headline on page 15 of the Wilkes-Barre Record newspaper on Jan. 11, 1927.

“One of the architectural treasures of Wyoming Valley has been preserved through the recent purchase of the Denison house in Forty Fort, which dates from 1790 and is the oldest house of any antiquarian value in the valley,” the Record reported.

Youssoupoff purchased the Denison property after the house had been vacant for about a year.

“The house was owned until recently by Richard Reilay, a direct descendant of the builder, who occupied it until about a year ago, since when it has been vacant. Plans to raze the house to make way for real estate development threatened, when it was brought to the attention of Marie Youssoupoff by friends interested in local history,” the newspaper reported.

Reilay lived for years at the Denison homestead. His mother was a member of the Denison family, pioneers of Wyoming Valley, who owned all the land from the Susquehanna River to the top of the mountain in Swoyersville. He relocated to Ashville, N.C., where he died April 18, 1938, at the age of 85.

Soon after purchasing the property, Youssoupoff left the Boston Store and went into business on her own as an “Oriental Carpet Importer,” giving the address of her store on Wyoming Avenue at Stone Bridge in Forty Fort. Advertisements of Youssoupoff’s oriental rug business in local newspapers showed a picture of the Denison House with a wrap-around porch.

“Set in the midst of a rolling lawn, surrounded by large trees with a creek flowing at the foot of the grassy slope in front, the house has a setting of great natural beauty. The house itself is a rambling two-story wooden structure of twenty rooms, many of them having been added from time to time at the rear,” the Record reported Jan. 11, 1927.

The Record reported at the time that the main part of the house was essentially as it was in the early days when it was probably an eight-room dwelling.

Youssoupoff was reported to have restored the interior in “strict accord with early American standards.”

“A massive central chimney of stone is the heart of the home providing the draft for five fireplaces that are probably the most interesting details of the building,” the Record reported.

Youssoupoff continued to sell oriental rugs from the Denison House and frequently took her business on the road speaking to many civic and women organizations across the Wyoming Valley.

The Denison House would remain under private ownership until efforts got underway in the late 1960s to preserve the historic property.

“Believed to be the oldest home in Wyoming Valley, the last private owner of the structure was Mr. and Mrs. David Ogdeg of Forty Fort. It was sold to them in 1963 by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McClelland,” the Times Leader reported.

Turning the Denison House into a historic site officially began in May 1967 when then state Rep. Frank O’Connell introduced a bill to purchase the property.

“Money would be appropriated to the Pennsylvania Historical Commission to purchase the home on a 50-50 matching funds basis. Fifty percent of the money would come from local sources,” the Evening News newspaper reported May 24, 1967.

Soon, trustees of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society purchased the property from private ownership to preserve the landmark for future generations during the same month, May 1967.

“Another historic property transfer of the property occurred July 21, 1970, when the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission took ownership and the home,” the Times Leader reported July 22, 1970.

Later that year, the Denison home became protected by the National Register of Historic Places.

A restoration project got underway in 1975 to restore the Denison House to its original construction, modeled after Nathan Denison’s original home in Mystic, Conn. The wrap-around porch and back buildings that were connected to the main structure were removed, and the kitchen was restored to its original appearance.

After a year-long renovation project, the Denison House opened during a formal ceremony held July 3, 1977, attended by hundreds of people, the Times Leader reported July 4, 1977.

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Look Back: Oriental rug dealer saved historic Nathan Denison House