Queen Village is a residential neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that lies along the eastern edge of the city, immediately south of Center City. It shares boundaries with Society Hill to the north, Bella Vista to the west and Pennsport to the south. Historically, the area is part of old Southwark, Philadelphia’s first suburb, which was incorporated into the city in 1856 and remains the city’s oldest residential neighborhood. Street boundaries are the south side of Lombard Street to the north side of Washington Avenue, Front Street to 6th Street, encompassing two principal commercial corridors, South Street and Fabric Row on 4th Street.

South Street’s commercial revival began with a few anchor businesses like Eye’s Gallery, JC Dobbs, and The Theater of the Living Arts, ramping up through a gritty punk phase into the restaurant/club/retail pastiche that exists today and extends fingers into Head House Square and 4th Street. In 1972, the National Register of Historic Places designated Lombard to Catherine, 5th to Front Street with a bump-out from Front to Delaware between Catherine and Washington (where Old Swede’s Church is located) as a historic district. Urban pioneers in the 70’s and 80’s have since been joined by gentrifiers in extensive redevelopment, rehabilitation, and new construction throughout Queen Village, which was renamed after the Queen of Sweden to acknowledge the neighborhood’s earliest inhabitants. Today, the South Street-Head House District represents upward of 300 cafes, restaurants, entertainment venues, and shops and Queen Village is home to some 7000 families whose median income and home values are among the highest in the city. The district is served by the very well-organized Queen Village Neighborhood Association.