It is home to Independence National Historical Park, a dense section of historic landmarks including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank of the United States, and Carpenters' Hall.

The Old City special services district stretches from Front to Sixth Streets between Walnut and Vine.

In the 1980s, the warehouse area north of Chestnut and especially Market Streets became popular for art galleries and artist's studios (the latter mostly displaced by gentrification in the 1990s) as well as bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

In addition to Independence Hall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Old City includes hundreds of important examples of Georgian and Federal public buildings, churches, a historic boutique hotel ( Independence Park Hotel ) and houses; Greek Revival and Italianate banks and exchanges; and cast iron warehouses and was as the Old City Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

There are three independent movie theaters in the neighborhood, two operated by the Philadelphia Film Society and one by Landmark Theatres.

[10] The Dominican Republic closed its consulate in the Lafayette Building at 437 Chestnut Street[11] on November 7, 2005.