Courtesy of Slusher’s gushers

Call it a house with a back-story.

Margaret (Campbell) Slusher was born in 1879, grew up in a Catholic orphanage in downtown Los Angeles and, to support herself as a young woman, took in laundry. She eventually started the Quality Laundry -- known for its sign boldly proclaiming “Run by a Woman.”

The $150,000 sale of her successful laundry in 1922 left her wealthy. But lightning hit again that same year: She struck oil on her Santa Fe Springs ranch, a 50-acre tract she had bought around 1918 for, story has it, $1 an acre. She eventually sold out to Shell Oil Co.

As a woman of considerable wealth, she turned to her passion: building and furnishing beautiful homes. This country retreat -- in Spanish Hacienda style -- was built in 1931 in Topanga Canyon for her husband and known simply as “Silas’ cabin.”

Stories vary about whom she entertained at the cabin, but by most accounts she rubbed elbows with Hollywood royalty, including Howard Hughes and Ronald Reagan.

After her husband died in 1946, the property saw less use. It was sold, rented out and then sat abandoned for almost two decades -- left as it was, furnishings and all.

“It was as if someone just locked the door behind them and didn’t come back,” said contractor Mark Friendship, who bought the property a year ago and, in a labor of love, restored it to its original 1930s stature.

About this house: Situated on 3.6 rambling acres, the property includes a main house, two guesthouses, horse stables and a stone chapel with a fireplace and outdoor kitchen. The parcel is surrounded by a stone wall, has several waterfalls and sits creek-side.

Asking price: $3,495,000

Size: Main house, 2,400 square feet; two guesthouses add 800 square feet of living space.

Features: The restored kitchen includes an original Kohler “electric sink,” a 1926 forerunner to the dishwasher. It was discontinued a decade later. The kitchen also has an original iron box where the appliance was stored. The house has original handmade California tiles -- including tile murals -- Finestra original and some replicated hardware, original metal screens, hand-hewn oak floors and two fireplaces, including one with an antique hand-carved mantel and facing from Europe.

Where: Topanga

Listing agent: Paul Ferra, Coldwell Banker Previews International, Topanga office, (310) 455-4111.

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send color interior and exterior photos on a CD with caption information and a description of the house, including what makes the property unusual, to Ruth Ryon, Real Estate section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. Questions may be sent to homeoftheweeklatimes.com.