Baker Street in Marylebone, London, is famous for Sherlock Holmes—but its history spans prime ministers, wartime spies, musicians, and the world’s first underground railway.
When you hear “Baker Street,” you might picture Sherlock Holmes at 221B, pipe in hand, solving impossible mysteries. Yet Baker Street, located in Marylebone, London, has a fascinating history that predates and outshines even the great detective’s legend. From its 18th-century origins and famous residents to its role in World War II espionage and its connection to the world’s first underground railway, Baker Street is more than a fictional address—it’s a living chronicle of London’s political, cultural, and architectural heritage.
History and Origins of Baker Street London
Unlike many London streets named after trades—like those off Cheapside—Baker Street does not owe its name to an abundance of bakers. Instead, it honours a person named Baker, likely William Baker, who laid out the street in 1755 on land leased from the Portman Estate. Other contenders include Peter William Baker, an estate agent; Sir Edward Baker of Ranston; or Sir Robert Baker, a Bow Street magistrate.
The Portman Estate itself dates back to 1553, when Sir William Portman purchased nearly 300 acres in Marylebone. By the mid-18th century, development had transformed the area into what would become one of London’s most recognisable streets.
Notable Residents of Baker Street Through the Centuries
Baker Street’s address book reads like a roll call of British public life. Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger lived here in his later years. The novelist Arnold Bennett, explorer Sir Richard Burton, author H.G. Wells, and actress Sarah Siddons all called it home.
Madame Tussaud’s original waxwork exhibition was once located here before moving to Marylebone Road. In 1978, Gerry Rafferty’s hit song Baker Street sealed the street’s place in popular music history.
Chiltern Court: Baker Street’s Architectural Landmark
At the northern end of Baker Street stands Chiltern Court, a Portland-stone block completed in 1929 above Baker Street station. Originally intended as a hotel and headquarters for the Metropolitan Railway, it was converted into luxury flats with an attached restaurant.
Residents included H.G. Wells, who hosted weekly literary salons, and Arnold Bennett, whose death in 1931 prompted London authorities to lay straw on Marylebone Road to quieten the noise—a rare tribute. Composer Eric Coates and cartoonist David Low also lived here.
Baker Street London in WWII: Spies, Sabotage, and the SOE
During the Second World War, 64 Baker Street became headquarters for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Britain’s covert warfare unit. The SOE’s Norwegian Section, operating from Chiltern Court, planned the daring Telemark raids that crippled Nazi Germany’s heavy-water production. Agents here were nicknamed the “Baker Street Irregulars”, in homage to Holmes’s fictional streetwise informants.
The World’s First Underground Railway at Baker Street Station
In 1863, Baker Street station opened as part of the Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground railway. Initially linking Paddington to Farringdon, the line expanded into the suburbs, creating “Metro-Land,” a vision of semi-rural living within reach of central London.
Baker Street became both a city gateway and a suburban terminus—connecting physical worlds just as Holmes connected intellectual clues.
Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street: Fiction Meets Reality
In 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle introduced Holmes’s address as 221B Baker Street in A Study in Scarlet. At the time, the street numbers did not reach that high, ensuring the rooms were fictional. Yet fans began writing letters to Holmes, the first arriving in 1890 from an American tobacconist.
By the 20th century, the Abbey National Building Society, located at the site corresponding to 221B, received up to 400 letters a year addressed to Holmes. Their polite replies only deepened the charm of this real-life literary legend.
Holmes adaptations have kept 221B alive for generations. The 1980s Granada Television series starring Jeremy Brett recreated Victorian Baker Street with precision, while the BBC’s Sherlock (2010–2017) modernised the setting without losing its soul.
Even CBS’s Elementary, set in New York, nodded to Baker Street’s symbolic role as the detective’s headquarters.
In detective fiction, the sleuth’s home is more than an address—it’s a control centre. From Hercule Poirot’s Whitehaven Mansions to Nero Wolfe’s brownstone, this literary trope owes much to the fictional 221B Baker Street.
Visiting Baker Street, London, Today: Museums, Landmarks, and Blue Plaques
Modern Baker Street blends history with tourist appeal. Visitors flock to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, snap photos at the 221B façade, and stroll to nearby Regent’s Park. Blue plaques mark the homes of Wells, Bennett, Coates, and sites tied to the Telemark raids. The Metropolitan Bar—once the Chiltern Court Restaurant—still displays the coats of arms of towns served by the old Metropolitan Railway.
To reduce Baker Street to Sherlock Holmes is to miss its wider significance. From Georgian estate development to wartime espionage HQ, from literary salons to music chart-toppers, Baker Street is a living chronicle of London’s layered identity. Sherlock may have immortalised 221B, but the street’s real history is just as compelling—full of intrigue, artistry, and transformation.
Photograph Courtesy: Justin Vogt, Pixabay.
Arup K. Chatterjee 