Since the Consolidation Act of 1854, the City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia County have shared one border, so each neighborhood on the list above is part of the city, not a separate town. The same city offices and the same Court of Common Pleas keep the records for all twelve; they are listed further down this page. Seven of the notes below name a local historic district, where the Philadelphia Historical Commission reviews exterior work. The facts below come from city, court, National Park Service and other published sources read on October 7, 2026.
Washington Square West historic district, created 2024
Center City covers the original two-square-mile city William Penn founded; the rest of Philadelphia was joined to it in 1854. In 2024 the Historical Commission created the Washington Square West historic district: more than 1,400 properties on about 26 blocks south of Walnut Street, between 8th and Juniper streets. Its houses run from Federal and Greek Revival rowhouses to homes built in the 1960s, 1980s and later. Owners there now need Commission approval for exterior work. An appraisal notes which side of the district line a house is on.
Estate appraisals in Philadelphia
Center City · Rittenhouse-Fitler historic district, 1995
The square goes back to William Penn's first plan for the city. Neighbors first protected it in 1816, when it was still called Southwest Square, and in 1913 private citizens hired the architect Paul Cret to redesign it. Homes around it range from small rowhouses to high-rise condominiums and apartments. The Rittenhouse-Fitler historic district, designated in 1995, covers part of the neighborhood, and exterior work inside it goes to the Historical Commission. A condominium near the square is compared first with sales of units in its own building.
Appraisals for a divorce
Center City · Old City historic district, 2003
Old City lies just north of Society Hill and reaches the Delaware River piers. The Historical Commission designated its historic district in 2003. The nomination describes Georgian rowhouses on Elfreth's Alley, two of them built about 1724, among many nineteenth-century commercial buildings. Tax incentives later led developers to turn empty workshops into loft apartments; the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia counts 90 housing units in 1970 and 1,665 by 1990. An Old City loft is measured against other units in its converted building.
Getting a home ready for the appraiser's visit
Southeast Center City · Society Hill historic district, March 10, 1999
The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia calls Society Hill the first area to undergo the city's urban renewal makeover. Many hundreds of homesteaders renovated its row houses under historical guidelines, and three I. M. Pei towers replaced the Dock Street Market. The Historical Commission designated the Society Hill historic district on March 10, 1999. Its inventory describes each property: on Addison Street, a facade of about 1830 stands one block from houses built about 1965. An appraisal there dates each house on its own record.
Probate valuations
Between Old City and Fishtown · its own district until 1854
Northern Liberties, a former manufacturing area between Old City and Fishtown, was a district of its own until the Consolidation Act of 1854 brought it into Philadelphia. Artists moving from Old City helped start its revival in the 1990s, and professionals later filled newly built townhouse complexes. Together with Fishtown it gained 24.7 percent in population from 2000 to 2010, the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia reports. An appraisal here keeps the new townhouse complexes and the older rowhouses in separate sets of comparable sales.
Date-of-death values for the IRS step-up
On the Delaware River, bordering Northern Liberties
Fishtown borders Northern Liberties along the Delaware. Visit Philadelphia places the Lenape village of Shackamaxon in today's Fishtown, Kensington and Port Richmond, and Penn Treaty Park marks where William Penn and the Lenape leader Tamanend agreed in the early 1680s to live in peace. By the early 2000s Fishtown had scores of infill projects and row-house rehabilitations, the Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia notes. An appraisal in Fishtown sorts new infill houses, rebuilt rowhouses and unrenovated rowhouses before it compares any of them.
What an appraisal costs in Philadelphia
Northwest Philadelphia · Main Street Manayunk historic district, 1984
Manayunk grew beside the Schuylkill River as a textile village after 1819, and by 1859 a local paper described it as densely packed with houses. Mill owners lived on the ridge above the town. Main Street became a local historic district in 1984. On September 2, 2021, after the remnants of Hurricane Ida, the river overtook Manayunk; parked cars disappeared in the floodwater and some Main Street residents had to be rescued. An appraisal near the river checks the flood map and the house's flood history.
Residential appraisals
Northwest Philadelphia · National Register historic district, 1985
Chestnut Hill was the northernmost section of old Germantown, and wealthy residents kept large plots there. A railroad terminal at Chestnut Hill Avenue and Bethlehem Pike opened on July 3, 1854. The Chestnut Hill Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 1985; it is roughly bounded by Fairmount Park and the Montgomery County line, and its listed periods run from 1700 to 1949. An appraisal on the Hill often finds few close matches, so lot size and age carry weight.
Rush appraisals when a date is close
South Philadelphia, west of Broad Street · Christian Street/Black Doctors Row historic district, 2022
In 2022 the Historical Commission designated the Christian Street/Black Doctors Row historic district: six blocks of Christian Street in Graduate Hospital, from Broad Street to 20th Street, with more than 150 properties. From 1910 through at least 1945 those blocks were home to Black doctors, pastors, teachers and business owners. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia reports the area's median single-family price rising from $86,000 in 1997 to $275,000 in 2007. An appraisal on Christian Street accounts for the Commission's review of exterior work.
Who pays for the appraisal in a Philadelphia divorce
Lombard Street to Washington Avenue · called Southwark before 1970
Queen Village runs from Lombard Street to Washington Avenue, between 6th Street and the Delaware River. It was called Southwark until investors in the 1970s renamed it, after Queen Christina of Sweden, to set it apart from the rest of South Philadelphia. Homesteaders and then developers turned many mixed-use streets into residential ones. Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church, at 916 South Swanson Street, has been in use since 1700, the National Park Service says. An appraisal here checks whether a building is a house or keeps a shop front.
Common questions about appraisals
North of Center City · the Art Museum area
Fairmount, also called the Art Museum area, is Center City's neighbor to the north. Eastern State Penitentiary, at 2027 Fairmount Avenue, was a state prison from 1829 to 1970. Some blocks were built for one group of residents: WHYY reports that the 800 block of Woodstock Street was developed in the late 1800s to house physicians at Lankenau Hospital, with Queen Anne colored glass and decorative brick fronts. An appraisal in Fairmount notes which original details a house keeps, along with its condition and updates.
What a divorce appraisal is for
Northwest Philadelphia · Tudor East Falls historic district, 2009
East Falls is a hilly Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood on the Schuylkill River, about five miles from Center City, with outdoor staircases linking some streets. The Historical Commission designated the Tudor East Falls historic district in 2009. Its nomination lists 210 houses, all contributing, including the 3400 blocks of Midvale Avenue and West Queen Lane, built under permits issued from 1925 to 1931. Leaded diamond-pane glass, slate roofs and stucco or fieldstone fronts recur. One of these houses is compared first with its district neighbors.
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