The area has grown to the second-most densely populated downtown area in the United States (after Midtown Manhattan in New York City), with an estimated 202,000 residents in 2020 and a population density of 26,234 per square mile.[3]
Center City is bounded by South Street to the south, the Delaware River to the east, the Schuylkill River to the west, and Vine Street to the north.[4] The district occupies the old boundaries of the City of Philadelphia before the city was made coterminous with Philadelphia County in 1854. The Center City District, which has special powers of taxation,[5] has a complicated, irregularly shaped boundary that includes much but not all of this area and also extends beyond it.[6] The Philadelphia Police Department patrols four districts located within Center City – the 6th, 9th, 3rd, and 17th districts.[7]
Center City is home to most of Philadelphia's tallest buildings, including Philadelphia's City Hall, the second-tallest masonry building in the world and, until 1987, the tallest in Philadelphia, as well as the tallest building in the world for fourteen years (1894–1908). In March 1987, One Liberty Place broke the gentlemen's agreement not to exceed the height of the statue of William Penn atop City Hall. Upon the completion of One Liberty Place, no Philadelphia major-league sports team won a world championship for the next two decades, a phenomenon known as the "Curse of Billy Penn". In an effort to reverse the curse, a three-foot statue of Penn was affixed to the top of the Comcast Center upon its completion as the city's new tallest building in 2007. On October 29, 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series, ending the "curse".
Seven other skyscrapers now exceed the height of Penn's statue, including One Liberty Place's little sister, Two Liberty Place. The Comcast Center, which was completed in 2007, became the tallest building in Pennsylvania, 30 feet taller than One Liberty Place. In 2018, the Comcast Technology Center opened, which is now the tallest building in Philadelphia and the tallest building in the United States outside of Manhattan and Chicago. 1441 Chestnut, which is currently under construction, is also slated to be taller than City Hall. The first publicly accessible vantage point higher than City Hall opened at One Liberty Observation Deck on the 57th floor of One Liberty Place in 2015.
Other Center City skyscrapers include the BNY Mellon Center and the Three Logan Square, which houses a traffic camera used by the Philadelphia branch of the Westwood One MetroNetworks traffic service.
Sunoco has its headquarters in the BNY Mellon Center.[9]Cigna has its corporate headquarters in 2 Liberty Place.[10]Aramark is headquartered in Center City on the east bank of the Schuylkill River on Market Street.[11]Comcast is headquartered in the Comcast Center.[12] The law firm Cozen O'Connor has its headquarters in Center City.[13]Kogan Page has its U.S. headquarters in Center City.[14]
The Consulate-General of the Dominican Republic in Philadelphia was located in Suite 216 in the Lafayette Building at 437 Chestnut Street.[22] It closed on November 7, 2005.[23] The Consulate-General of Israel in Philadelphia was located on the 18th Floor at 1880 John F. Kennedy Boulevard.[24] Israel closed the Philadelphia consulate in 2016.[25]
Education
Public schools
Residents of Center City are included within the School District of Philadelphia. From the 1940s to the opening of what is now known as the Greenfield School in 1954, many residents attended public schools in other areas and private schools due to the low number of public schools in Center City.[26]
In 2005, in an attempt to slow the flight of middle-class families, the school district and Center City District, an economic development agency, launched a program that promoted public schools in Center City, including Rittenhouse Square and Society Hill, and adjacent areas in Fairmount, Northern Liberties, and South Philadelphia.[27]
K-8 schools that have attendance boundaries in Center City and areas around Center City include:[28]
Albert M. Greenfield
It opened in September 1954 as the Center City School after the Center City Residents Association (CCRA) advocated for its establishment. It was initially housed in a YWCA and later in the former Jerrold Electronics Building. In 1964 the school district bought the site for a permanent campus, which began construction in 1966 and opened in September 1970.[26]
The Free Library of Philadelphia operates the Parkway Central Library at 1901 Vine Street,[36] the Independence Branch at 18 South 7th Street,[37] the Philadelphia City Institute on the first floor and lower level of an apartment complex at 1905 Locust Street,[38] and the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped at 919 Walnut Street.[39]
Mütter Museum, a medical museum, is located in center city at 19 S. 22nd Street.
Recreation
Center City Philadelphia has a vast number of restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. McGillin's Olde Ale House, at 1310 Drury Street, is one of the nation's oldest pubs (founded in 1860).
There is a 500,000+ sq ft underground pedestrian concourse that connects many of the center city Septa stations to businesses and office buildings. Primarily running under Market Street and Broad Street, the concourse spans east to west from 8th street to 18th street and north to south from John F. Kennedy Boulevard to Spruce Street.
Intercity public transit
Greyhound at two locations:
618 Market
JFK and 30th Street
Peter Pan, and various Trailways buses at 618 Market Street
Various Chinatown bus lines (various operators & stops; most stops near 11th & Arch Streets)
Amtrak's primary Philadelphia station, 30th Street Station, is located immediately west of Center City, just across the Schuylkill River. SEPTA Regional Rail trains, New Jersey Transit Atlantic City Line trains, Market-Frankford Line trains, and subway-surface line trolleys also service 30th Street Station, and both Megabus and BoltBus stop on streets adjacent to the station.
As of 2016[update] Taiwanese airline China Airlines provides a private bus service to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for customers based in the Philadelphia area. This service previously stopped in Center City in front of the Marriott Hotel.[41]
Center City Residents' Association
The Center City Residents' Association, originally formed in 1947 to prevent Rittenhouse Square from being turned into a parking lot, is a primary advocate for quality of life issues in Center City. Other community organizations of this type include Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Society Hill Civic Association, South of South Street Neighborhood Association, Washington Square West Civic Association, and the Queen Village Neighbors Association.
^"2018 State of Center City Philadelphia" (PDF). 2018 State of Center City Philadelphia. centercityphila.org. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
^"2022 State of Center City Philadelphia" (PDF). 2018 State of Center City Philadelphia. centercityphila.org. Retrieved May 23, 2020.
^"2022 State of Center City Philadelphia" (PDF). 2022 State of Center City Philadelphia. centercityphila.org. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
^"The State of Center City 2015, page 4" Archived September 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
^"The State of Center City 2008" Archived September 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, The Center City District and the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, May 2008.
^"Center City District Boundary Map". Center City District web site. Center City District. Archived from the original on August 30, 2010. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
^"New signs make it official: We have a 'gayborhood' - Daily News - 04/19/2007". April 30, 2007. Archived from the original on April 30, 2007.
^"Contact Sunoco Archived 2009-09-25 at the Wayback Machine." Sunoco. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
^"Directions to CIGNA Corporate Offices". Cigna. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
^"Contact Us". Aramark. Archived from the original on May 15, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
^"Shareholder Information". Comcast 2008 Annual Review. Comcast. Archived from the original on November 26, 2009. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
^"Offices: Philadelphia". Cozen O'Connor. Archived from the original on November 7, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
^"Contact". Kogan Page USA. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011. Kogan Page Publishers 1518 Walnut Street, Suite 1100 Philadelphia, PA 19102
^ a bBlumenthal, Jeff. "Lincoln sells Delaware Investments". Philadelphia Business Journal. August 19, 2009. Modified August 20, 2009. Retrieved on August 24, 2009.
^"Northeast Regional Office". Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved on June 9, 2015. "U.S. Custom House, 7th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106"
^"Philadelphia". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved on June 9, 2015. "William J. Green, Jr. Building 600 Arch Street, 8th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19106"
^"Benvenuti sul sito web del Consolato Generale d'Italia a Filadelfia" [Welcome to the web site of the Consulate General of Italy in Philadelphia]. Consulate-General of Italy in Philadelphia. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
^"Panamanian Consulates in the U.S." Embassy of Panama in Washington D.C. Archived from the original on January 22, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
^"Consulates of the Dominican Republic in The United States". Embassy of the Dominican Republic in Washington, DC. January 16, 2002. Archived from the original on October 24, 2002. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
^"DR to close four consulates in the USA". Dominican Today. November 8, 2005. Archived from the original on June 20, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
^"Consular Services: Consular Reception Hours". Consulate-General of Israel in Philadelphia. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009. Retrieved February 1, 2009.
^Marks, Jon (September 6, 2017). "A Year On, City Adjusts to Life Sans Consulate". Jewish Exponent. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Retrieved August 31, 2020.
^ a b"About Us". Albert M. Greenfield School. Retrieved on April 5, 2018.
^Snyder, Susan (August 22, 2005). "Selling schools - to families, A new campaign touts 20 Center City sites. Its aim: Retain the middle class. Schools pitch aims at stemming flight of the middle class". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2011.
^"Center City Public Elementary Schools". Center City District.
^"Center City Schools — Maps & Info Archived July 6, 2007, at archive.today." Center City District.
^"General George A. McCall School - Where the graduates go". Center City District.
^"Albert M. Greenfield School - Where the graduates go". Center City District. Archived from the original on May 31, 2008.
^"Center City Schools — Maps & Info", Center City District (website), Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, archived from the original on July 6, 2007
^"Lenfest Campus". Mastery Charter Schools. Retrieved on September 10, 2012. "35 South 4th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106"
^"Free Shuttle Service To/From JFK Airport Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine." China Airlines. September 15, 2015. Retrieved on February 29, 2016.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Center City, Philadelphia.
Center City District and Central Philadelphia Development Corporation