Rebuild-Slated Site Sits Fallow After Demolition of Historic Building at 107 Chestnut Street in Old City
In August 2020, Philadelphia YIMBY reported that permits were filed for the demolition of a historically designated four-story building at 107 Chestnut Street in the Old City Historic District in Center City, half a block away from Penn’s Landing. The structure was built in 1840, at a time when the neighborhood bustled with maritime commercial activity, and was one of the last remaining buildings on the street’s old mercantile row. The Philadelphia Historical Commission approved the demolition after engineering experts declared the structure unsafe yet required that the owner rebuild the historic edifice in its original form within a year. However, YIMBY’s recent site visit shows that the structure’s former site still sits cleared and paved over with no signs of new construction, perched next to its lone prewar neighbor that stands surrounded by a parking lot.
