The Block Report

Property report

305 Chestnut St

113,364 sqft · CMX3 · built 1900

Library · Individual owner on record · fully tax-exempt (2026 OPA). On the 300 block of Chestnut St.

Property summary

Assessment$12,386,7002026 OPA assessment · 2027: $12,386,700 Last sale—No sale value available Est. tax bill$0/year2026 OPA · full assessment exemption shown Tax delinquency—Snapshot unavailable Permits8Dated events in report Violations1 openNo historical match in fetched records

“Open” reflects records available then historical records keep their source dates estimates are labeled

BlockReport AI · cited public records

Ask the questions this record raises.

Every choice opens the research chat with this property already in context. Curated questions are free.

Opens the research chat · 3 custom questions per browser
Question or correct this record

BlockReport can explain a discrepancy, but it cannot rewrite an official City record. Use the agency that owns the underlying fact:

Street view of 305 Chestnut St
From the street — imagery © Google
From above — imagery © Esri, Maxar

The estimate, live balance, and back-tax record are different.

BlockReport can calculate the annual tax from the City’s taxable assessment. Payments, credits, interest, and a current amount due live separately in Philadelphia Tax Center.

Estimated annual Real Estate Tax$0/year

2026 taxable assessment $0 × 1.3998%. Estimate—not a bill or account balance.

OPA also publishes a 2027 assessment of $12,386,700; it is not the 2026 billed-year value.

Official current account balanceCheck live

A Tax Center balance is net of bills, payments, credits, interest, and adjustments. A credit—or an amount due—is not automatically “back taxes.”

OPA 771735505
Open Philadelphia Tax Center →Choose “View period balance” to see the tax year and any credit, interest, or delinquency.
Exemption classificationFull assessment exemption shown

2026 OPA shows a zero or de minimis taxable assessment. The open assessment split does not establish the exemption's legal basis, continuing eligibility, or treatment after a transfer.

Historical delinquency sources No current conclusion

The June 2022 delinquency snapshot was not verifiably available in this cached report. No conclusion about a match—or today’s balance—can be drawn from that absence.

For a purchase, refinance, or closing, request the City’s official Property Payoff statement in Tax Center under “More options.”

What stands out

From the public record
Finding

"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder

Why it matters

Philadelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.

View supporting records →

The property record, over time

Every dated deed, permit, inspection, license, violation, certification, and appeal is placed on the City’s annual assessment line. Select a point to read what happened; the line is an assessment history—not a sale-price chart or appraisal. OPA has also published a 2027 assessment of $12,386,700; it is not yet the billed-year tax basis.

Assessment history · all dated City records marked on the line

$0$10M$20M2017 OPA assessment: $12M2018 OPA assessment: $12M2019 OPA assessment: $12M2020 OPA assessment: $12M2021 OPA assessment: $12M2022 OPA assessment: $12M2023 OPA assessment: $12M2024 OPA assessment: $12M2025 OPA assessment: $12M2026 OPA assessment: $12M2027 OPA assessment: $12M2017 — 2017-03-08: Zoning board appeal$12M201720192021202320252027
This propertyAppeal
2017-03-08: Zoning board appeal
Every dated record1 event · scroll to browse
  1. AppealZoning board appeal
Not a houseProperty report

This is a library, not a home, and OPA shows a full or near-full assessment exemption whose basis must be verified. A $0 assessment-based tax estimate does not prove the live Tax Center account has no prior-period balance or other charges. Homeowner investment tools are hidden; the assembled public-source record remains below.

1 open violation

What it is
Library
Misc Library Masonry
Owner
Individual owner on record
Public / institutional
OPA tax treatment
Full assessment exemption shown
2026 OPA taxable assessment $0 · basis and live balance require separate verification
$ / sq ft
$109
below the $130 median for 12,035 commercial parcels citywide
Corridor
Old City
city commercial corridor
Assessed value
$12,386,700
2026 OPA · 2027: $12,386,700
Interior area
113,364 sqft
Lot size
29,930 sqft
Built
1900
Zoning
CMX3

Browse the source ledger

The chart above is the primary timeline. This drawer preserves every underlying dated row and its filed status for source-level review.

Open the City record ↗
Browse 1 dated record deeds, permits, inspections, licenses, violations, certifications & appeals
  1. AppealZoning board appeal

    Appeal 29619 · OPEN · Granted

    PERMIT FOR THE REMOVAL OF AN EXISTING FENCE AND FOR THE ERECTION OF A FENCE (9'-0" TO 11'-4" IN HEIGHT) AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE LOT. SIZE AND LOCATION AS SHOWN IN PLANS. FOR USE AS AN EXISTING EDUCATIONAL FACILITY.

What this record suggests

1 violation is still marked open in the assembled record. The date and status belong in a current L&I check before relying on them.

Where the record looks off

Places where the city's own paperwork disagrees with itself. These are flags on the data — not problems with the property.

"Built 1900" is usually a placeholder

Philadelphia records use 1900 as a stand-in when the real construction year was never documented. Treat the age as unknown, not as 120+ years.

Block context

305 Chestnut St sits on the 300 block of Chestnut St. Open the block report to compare its parcels, ownership and public-record history.

See the whole block →

Next door: 303 Chestnut St  ·  301 Chestnut St

Where this comes from
Methodology & freshness

This report was assembled Jul 9, 2026, 4:45 PM ET. Available City datasets are queried from OpenDataPhilly (phl.carto.com) and the cited City ArcGIS feeds; record queries paginate rather than silently taking a first page. “Unavailable” means the source query failed or was not supplied, not “no record.” Reports re-pull on view after seven days and on an overnight rolling schedule; citywide benchmarks recompute weekly. Source dates still govern: the parcel-level tax-delinquency snapshot is June 2022 and the separate detailed tax ledger ends in 2016, so neither establishes today’s balance. The live balance and date-effective payoff must be verified in Tax Center. AI-written passages are grounded in the assembled record and rejected if they state a number the record does not hold.

Official city record ↗  ·  L&I history ↗  ·  See the whole block  ·  Download this record (JSON)