Living in Center City West: A Neighborhood Guide
From City Hall to the Schuylkill River, you’ll discover a bit of everything.
A view from the Harper’s elevated park / Photograph courtesy of Pearl Properties
Living the high life
Center City is more than a “downtown” — it’s the economic, business, cultural, and residential heart of Philadelphia. And the west side of Center City includes the neighborhood that has long been the ne plus ultra for metropolitan living: Rittenhouse Square, home to more high-rise residential towers than anywhere else in Philadelphia, as well as its toniest addresses. You’ll also find Fitler Square, Rittenhouse Square’s more laid-back sibling, and Logan Circle, home to many of the city’s museums and (along with Fitler Square) the gateway to its Schuylkill riverfront. The three neighborhoods all went from modest to magnificent over the course of a century: a graveyard and brickyards to a culture hub, the capital of chic, and a pleasant riverside redoubt.
All in one
Reformation / Photograph courtesy of Reformation
If you live here, chances are your job is a short walk away from your digs (or maybe it’s in your digs). So is the city’s premier shopping street, Rittenhouse Row, the stretch of Walnut Street from Broad to 21st. There’s plenty of posh (Lagos, a local jeweler, at 1735 Walnut Street), plus modern eco-conscious fashion (Reformation, 1723 Walnut Street) and various luxury athletic-wear shops like Vuori (1705 Walnut Street), one of the latest additions for fitness enthusiasts. Just off Walnut, discover cutting-edge modern furniture at Usona (1633 Locust Street). The dining scene includes French and Italian fare at Her Place Supper Club (1740 Sansom Street), a Caribbean feast at Bolo (2025 Sansom Street), and beef and beer at old-school bar Cherry Street Tavern (129 North 22nd Street).
Bolo / Photograph by KC Tinari
From towers to townhouses
Center City West is the original home of Philly’s urban cliff dwellers, whose ranks have grown thanks to recent additions like the Laurel, 1909 Rittenhouse, One Riverside, the Harper, the Josephine, and Riverwalk. One new tower will break ground soon to join these, and more are on the drawing board. While some house prices are as elevated as the apartments and condos, Mary Genovese Colvin of On the Square Real Estate at Compass says the stats don’t tell the whole story, because there’s significant range in the listing price throughout the neighborhoods: “About 20 percent of homes are priced below $300,000, while another 20 percent are listed above $2.5 million.”
Published as “Living in Center City West” in the December 2024/January 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
