Federal and Georgian brick rowhouses and cast iron commercial fronts around Elfreth's Alley, and the church steeple used three times on screen.
What Old City looks like
is a single lane of red brick rowhouses, two and three storeys. Painted wood shutters and brightly colored doors line the fronts, with small lanterns hung over the sidewalk and a strip of cobblestone down the center between brick walks. The houses along it date from the 1700s and 1800s. , a block over, repeats the same scale of narrow brick rowhouses. Its shutters run red and slate blue.
On the wider grid toward Second Street, storefronts sit under taller cast iron fronted buildings, arched windows and iron fire escapes on the facades. Awnings shade some of the ground floors, and upper windows still show fading painted signs and hand lettered availability notices.
The faces Chestnut Street behind a Greek Revival marble portico with eight fluted columns and a pediment. The Arch Street Meetinghouse, a block away, is a long plain red brick hall with shuttered windows and a cupola. Brick paving covers its yard, and St. Augustine Church's white steeple and clock tower rise over New Street from a red brick tower at the end of the block.
The 's green steel spans cross the Delaware from the neighborhood's northern edge, well above the rooflines. Below it, cranes stand along a working shoreline. A squat red brick building with arched windows sits at Race Street, its doors now opening onto a performance hall.
Shot in Old City
St. Augustine Church's red brick tower and white steeple have appeared on screen three times. Malcolm Crowe follows Cole Sear inside its doors near the start of The Sixth Sense, and the same tower serves as a sniper's perch in Shooter and a New York funeral in 21 Bridges.
St. Augustine Church
New Street at North 4th Street. Three different productions used the same steeple and tower across two decades.
The Sixth Sense, 1999
Malcolm Crowe follows Cole Sear inside the church near the start of the film, its red brick tower and white steeple visible down New Street. The church was built in 1847 to 48 in a Palladian style, its clock tower and cross visible from several blocks away. Street View
Shooter, 2007
The production used the church's own steeple at New Street and North 4th Street for the sniper's vantage in the film's assassination sequence. St. Augustine's white steeple and red brick tower read the same way here as they do in The Sixth Sense's shot down New Street.
21 Bridges, 2019
Played a Catholic church, New York City, New York, a flashback within the film's present day setting
The church stands in for a New York funeral in the film, a flashback where a young Andre attends his police officer father's service. The white steeple over New Street plays a Manhattan parish for the scene.
What Old City can double for
Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia
Old Town Alexandria has the same scale of Federal and Georgian brick rowhouses on cobblestone streets running down toward the Potomac, and its King Street storefronts mix cast iron and brick the same way Old City's Second Street does. Alexandria's houses run a little later than Old City's full 1700s to 1880s range, and its streets are wider than Elfreth's Alley. Alexandria's brick runs a warmer red and its dormers are larger, which shows in a wide shot; a tight street level frame holds the illusion better. Try searching Federal brick rowhouses cobblestone street now.
SoHo's cast iron commercial buildings went up in the same 1840 to 1880 window as the fronts along Old City's Second and Market Streets, with the same arched windows and painted iron columns. SoHo's blocks run wider and its buildings stand taller, five and six storeys the norm rather than the exception. SoHo's paving is Belgian block rather than round cobbles, and its cast iron shows more ornament. A close frame on one storefront could pass for either city. Try searching cast iron commercial storefronts now.
Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts
Beacon Hill's Federal brick rowhouses and narrow lanes share Old City's scale, both from the same Federal era of building. Beacon Hill adds bowfronts, purple tinted window glass and gas lamps that Old City's flatter facades do not have. The bowfronts and gas lamps give Beacon Hill away in a wide shot; a straight on frame of a flat facade avoids them. Try searching Federal brick bowfront rowhouses now.
