Sir William Howe occupied Stenton as his headquarters during the battle of Germantown, October 4, 1777, and on November 22 ordered it destroyed, along with the homes of other "obnoxious persons." The story of its narrow escape is interesting. Two dragoons came to fire it. Meeting a negro woman on their way to the barn for straw, they told her she might remove the bedding and clothing. Meanwhile a British officer and several men happened along, inquiring for deserters, whereupon the negro servant with ready wit said that two were hiding in the barn. Despite their protests, the men were carried away and the house was saved, as the order to fire it was not repeated. After Doctor Logan's death in 1821, Stenton was occupied by his widow, Deborah Logan, until her death in 1839, when it passed to her son Albanus, an agriculturalist and sportsman. His son Gustavus was the last private owner, as the house was acquired by the city and occupied as their headquarters by the Colonial Dames, the descendants of the Logan family removing to Loudoun near by. No account of the Colonial houses of Philadelphia would be reasonably complete which failed to include the home of Stephen Girard. Although of scant architectural distinction, it is of interest through its association with one of the chief outstanding figures of a city noted for its celebrated residents. It is a two-story hip-roofed structure, rather narrow but of exceptional length, taking the form of two plaster-walled wings on opposite sides of a central portion of brick having a pediment springing from the main cornice and a circular, ornamental window. As at Hope Lodge a broad plaster coving is the principal feature of the simple cornice. The windows and chimneys differ in various parts of the house, and the doors are strangely located, all suggesting alterations and additions. The central part of the house has casement sashes with blinds as contrasted with Georgian sashes with paneled shutters elsewhere, and all second-story windows are foreshortened.