The area is the location for Philadelphia's annual OutFest: National Coming Out Day celebration. It was also a red light district and center of Philadelphia's gay bathhouse culture in the 1970s and 1980s. It is so-named because of its large concentration of gay and lesbian friendly small businesses, restaurants, and gay bars.
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The area approximately bounded by Chancellor, Pine, 13th, and 11th streets within Washington Square West is known as The Gayborhood. The 61-acre (250,000 m2) area comprises 450 contributing properties. The Washington Square West Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. By the end of the 1990s and early 2000s, the neighborhood had transformed into an economically vital community. The 1990s saw a shift in the neighborhood as Mayor Ed Rendell encouraged investment in Center City and gentrification began to take hold. Through the late 1970s and 1980 began a slow recovery without the aid of the large-scale redevelopment that had occurred in Society Hill. Buildings razed by the city in the 1960s and 1970s were left as empty lots and the neighborhood was left in a state of decline. By this time, however, federal money available for urban renewal had declined and the city was no longer able to fund the renewal of Washington Square West. In the late 1960s, the Redevelopment Authority bought and demolished buildings and, by the mid 1970s, owned one fifth of the neighborhood. After a period of decline in the early 20th century, city officials hoped that redevelopment would clean up the neighborhood and clear blighted areas.Īfter large-scale renewal of Washington Square East/Society Hill in the early 1960s, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority turned to Washington Square West. Both neighborhoods were scheduled for urban renewal by Philadelphia's City Planning Commission and Redevelopment Authority. In this plan, the south-east quadrant of center city was split into Washington Square East (more commonly known as Society Hill) and Washington Square West. The name "Washington Square West" came into official use in the late 1950s and early 1960s as part of Edmund Bacon's comprehensive plan for Center City.
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In addition to the block sized Washington Square Park to the East, the neighborhood contains the smaller Kahn Park, named after the Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn. The neighborhood follows William Penn's original grid layout for the city, with many one-lane and pedestrian side streets added later as the population became more dense. Washington Square West's real estate is characterized by two, three, and four-story townhouses interspersed with condominiums, mid-rise apartments, and offices with ground-floor retail. The one-time headquarters of the former Curtis Publishing Company and the University of the Arts lie at the edges of the neighborhood. Educational and medical facilities associated with, Thomas Jefferson University, a leading regional medical university and health care center, are located within the neighborhood.
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Philadelphia's Antique Row lies in the area as does the nation's oldest hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital. The area takes its name from Washington Square, a historic urban park in the northeastern corner of the neighborhood. In addition to being a desirable residential community, it is considered a hip, trendy neighborhood that offers a diverse array of shops, restaurants, and coffee houses. The neighborhood roughly corresponds to the area between 7th and Broad Streets and between Walnut and South Streets, bordering on the Independence Mall tourist area directly northeast, Market East to the northwest, Old City and Society Hill to the East, Bella Vista directly south, Hawthorne to the southwest, and mid-town Philadelphia and Rittenhouse Square to the west. Elisa_rolle Washington Square West (or Wash West) is a neighborhood in downtown, or Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.