Stenton (mansion)

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Stenton
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Stenton-mansion.png
Location4601 N. 18th St. (at Courtland St.),
Logan Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Coordinates40°1′25.6″N 75°9′16.6″W / 40.023778°N 75.154611°W / 40.023778; -75.154611Coordinates: 40°1′25.6″N 75°9′16.6″W / 40.023778°N 75.154611°W / 40.023778; -75.154611
Area3 acres (12,000 m2)
Built1723–1730
ArchitectJohn Nicholas (d. 1756), master builder
Architectural styleAmerican Georgian
Websitehttp://www.stenton.org
NRHP reference No.66000690[1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 12, 1965

Stenton, also known as the James Logan Home, was the country home of James Logan, colonial Mayor of Philadelphia and Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The home is located at 4601 North 18th Street in the Logan neighborhood of North Philadelphia.

History[]

Stenton, which was named for Logan's father's Scottish birthplace, was built between 1723 and 1730 on 511 acres (2.07 km2) as the country seat of James Logan, who was recognized in his lifetime as "a universal man in the Renaissance tradition." Arriving in Philadelphia in 1699 as William Penn's secretary, Logan occupied pivotal roles in the colony's government—including that of chief justice of the Supreme Court and acting governor—for 50 years. He assembled one of the best libraries in colonial America, discovered the vital role of pollen in the fertilization of corn (an achievement that caused Linnaeus to consider him "among the demigods of science"), and amassed a fortune in the fur trade.[2]

The building is of red brick, with dark headers. The roof atop its 2½ stories is hipped.

After James Logan's death in 1751, Stenton was inherited by his son, William Logan (1717–1776). William used Stenton mainly as a summer residence, choosing to live in Philadelphia for the rest of the year. He also built the kitchen and added many fine furnishings.

After William's death in 1776,[3] Stenton was in turn inherited by his son, Dr. George Logan (1753–1821), a physician and later US Senator. The house figured in the 1777 Battle of Germantown, and served as headquarters of both General George Washington and British General Lord William Howe. George married Deborah Norris (1761–1839), a noted diarist and historian, and the person to whom Sally Wister's Journal was written,[4] in 1781. The mansion remained in the hands of the Logan family until 1910, when it was acquired by the City of Philadelphia.[2]

Museum[]

Stenton, now open as a historic house museum, part of the Historic Germantown Historic Society[5] is an outstanding example of early American Georgian architecture.[6] Stenton was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 12, 1965. The mansion lends its name to nearby Stenton Park and Stenton Avenue. The village of Stanton in Readington Township, New Jersey also borrows its name from the mansion.

In Popular Culture[]

Summer 1999[7] director Andrew Repasky McElhinney shot interiors at Stenton for his second feature[8] as a writer/director, the period art-horror film, A Chronicle of Corpses, starring Marj Dusay, Kevin Mitchel Martin, Oliver Wyman, David Semonin, Margot White and Ryan Foley.[9] A Chronicle of Corpses was praised by Dave Kehr of The New York Times as belonging "to the small but significant tradition of outsider art in American movies - films like Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls or George Romero's Night of the Living Dead - that reflect powerful personalities formed outside any academic or professional tradition.”[10] The original camera negative of A Chronicle of Corpses is in the permanent collection of MoMA - The Museum of Modern Art (New York) along with other movies directed by McElhinney.[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ NHL Listing at the National Park Service
  2. ^ a b "Logan family papers, 1684-1925". dla.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  3. ^ "Logan family papers, 1684-1925". dla.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  4. ^ Albert Cook Myers, ed., Introduction, Sally Wister's Journal: A True Narrative: Being a Quaker Maiden's Account of Her Experiences with Officers of the Continental Army, 1777–1779, Ferris & Leach, Philadelphia, 1902.
  5. ^ "Historic Germantown". Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  6. ^ "Stenton". Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  7. ^ McElhinney, Andrew Repasky. "In Remembrance: Marj Dusay (1936-2020)." Film International [Bandhagen, Sweden], 30 January 2020. http://filmint.nu/rememberance-dusay-2020 Retrieved 10 January 2021
  8. ^ "Andrew Repasky McElhinney." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 15 October 2020. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Repasky_McElhinney. Retrieved 06 January 2021.
  9. ^ A Chronicle of Corpses." iMDB.com [Los Angeles]. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249443 Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  10. ^ Kehr, Dave. "Decadence Meets Death On an 1800's Plantation." The New York Times [New York], 24 October 2001, Section E, Page 1. https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/24/movies/film-review-decadence-meets-death-on-an-1800-s-plantation.html
  11. ^ The Museum of Modern Art [New York]. "Andrew Repasky McElhinney, American, born 1978." https://www.moma.org/artists/46842 Retrieved 6 January 2021.

Further reading[]

  • Eberlein, H. D.; Lippincott, H. M. (1912). The Colonial Homes of Philadelphia and Its Neighbourhood. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co.
  • Jenkins, Charles F. (1973). The Guide Book to Historic Germantown. Philadelphia: Germantown Historical Society.

External links[]

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