East Center City Commercial Historic District

Commercial buildings lining Market, Chestnut, Walnut and Sansom Streets east of Broad Street form this district, which grew from the original commercial core of eighteenth-century Philadelphia. Its largest buildings stand near Independence Square and at the intersection of 8th and Market Streets, where department stores such as Wanamaker, Strawbridge and Clothier, Lit Brothers and Gimbels were established between 1861 and 1894. The Curtis Publishing Company block by Edgar Seeler dates to 1907, and the Public Ledger offices were designed by Horace Trumbauer. Smaller buildings on the 700 blocks of Chestnut and Sansom Streets show the work of architects including Willis G. Hale, Stephen Decatur Button and Paul Cret. Production as well as retail took place in lofts and factories among the shops, which is why the district is valued for its mix of uses and its range of architecture from the 1830s through the 1930s.