The Helsinki Central railway station, Hotel Kämp and Hotel Arthur, the Helsinki main post office, the Stockmann and Sokos department stores, the Kluuvi shopping centre and the main offices of Finnish banks are located in Kluuvi.

Kluuvi includes the central campus of the University of Helsinki, the Ateneum art museum, and the movie theatres Maxim, Kinopalatsi and Bristol.

The district was originally a bay called Kluuvinlahti in the Gulf of Finland, which eventually became swampy.

It was the last remnant of a strait that had originally connected Töölönlahti and Eteläsatama but had already closed in the 16th century because of the post-glacial rebound.

The soft ground had to be artificially frozen before it was possible to dig through it to construct a solid base for the metro track.