Walnut Street is located in downtown

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

and extends from the city's

Delaware River The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before ...

waterfront through Center City and

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Alhough there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the nort ...

. Walnut Street has been characterized as "the city's premier shopping district". A portion of the street commonly called Rittenhouse Row was ranked 12th in 2005 by ''

Women's Wear Daily ''Women's Wear Daily'' (also known as ''WWD'') is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". Horyn, Cathy"Breaking Fashion News With a Provocative Edge" ''The New York Times''. (August 20, 1999). It provides inf ...

'' among its list of the most expensive retail streets in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, with rents of $90 per square foot, and is home to several "upscale dining, retail and cultural" establishments. In 2013 rents had risen to an average of $107 a foot, a growth of 34% over 2012 and the largest percentage growth of any retail corridor in the country. Running parallel to Walnut Street, one or two blocks to the north (depending on whether the side street Sansom Street is counted), is Chestnut Street.

Pennsylvania Route 3 Pennsylvania Route 3 (PA 3) is a state highway located in the southeastern portion of Pennsylvania. The route runs from U.S. Route 322 Business (US 322 Bus.) in West Chester east to PA 611 in Philadelphia. The route begins in downtown West C ...

westbound follows Walnut Street from 38th Street ( U.S. Route 13) to its western terminus at the Cobbs Creek Parkway.

Route description

It is most known for

Rittenhouse Square Rittenhouse Square is a neighborhood, including a public park, in Center City Philadelphia. The park is one of the five original open-space parks planned by William Penn and his surveyor Thomas Holme during the late 17th century. The neighborho ...

Park and its upscale shopping district in the high-end neighborhood of the same name. The majority of

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and

fast fashion Fast fashion is a term used to describe the clothing industry's business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail stores quickly, while demand is at it ...

stores located on Walnut Street are situated on a four-block stretch between Broad Street and 18th Street, which is anchored by the park on the southwest corner. This area of Walnut Street and a few blocks to the east features a variety of shops, eateries, bars, hotels, and office buildings. Walnut Street Theatre from east

The

Walnut Street Theatre The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnu ...

, located at 825 Walnut Street, is the oldest continuously-operating theatre in the English-speaking world. Among the many attractions and historic sites along Walnut Street are

Independence National Historical Park Independence National Historical Park is a federally protected historic district in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National P ...

and Society Hill on the east, followed by Washington Square, Washington Square West, the St. James Hotel (1226-1232), the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (1419-1411), the Sun Oil Building (1608-1610), the 1616 Walnut Street Building,

(also known as Center City West Commercial Historic District),

Estey Hall __NOTOC__ Estey Hall is a historic building on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. It was the first building constructed for the higher education of African-American women in the United States. Built in 1873, Estey Hall is th ...

(1701 Walnut Street), and the Church of the Holy Trinity. The Walnut Street Bridge, completed in 1949, crosses the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river running northwest to southeast in eastern Pennsylvania. The river was improved by navigations into the Schuylkill Canal, and several of its tributaries drain major parts of Pennsylvania's Coal Region. It f ...

. On the west side of the river, the street crosses over the Schuylkill Expressway. Further west, Walnut Street bisects the campus of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

in the University City section of

. At 47th Street is the site of the old

West Philadelphia High School West Philadelphia High School is a secondary school located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the intersection of 49th Street and Chestnut Street. History The original West Philadelphia High School (WPHS) building ...

. The Paul Robeson House sits at the corner of 50th and Walnut. WTP A17 youcanlookitup 2

The street goes westward through Walnut Hill, Dunlap and eventually

Cobbs Creek Cobbs Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of Darby Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It forms an approximat ...

where the street ends.

References

{{Coord, 39.951, -75.181, display=title Streets in Philadelphia Shopping districts and streets in the United States

Route description

See also

References