Baker Street

Baker Street

94 Baker Street, formerly the Apple Boutique.
Length	1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Location	Westminster, London, United Kingdom
North end	Oxford Street
To	Regent's Park
Other
Known for	Shopping · Sherlock Holmes' residence (221B Baker Street) · Baker Street robbery · Setting of Gerry Rafferty's hit song · Jethro Tull's composition · Baker Street tube station · Apple Boutique · Selfridges

Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B Baker Street address. The area was originally high class residential, but now is mainly occupied by commercial premises.

Baker Street is a busy thoroughfare, lying in postcode areas NW1/W1 and forming part of the A41 there. It runs south from Regent's Park, the junction with Park Road, parallel to Gloucester Place, meeting Marylebone Road, Portman Square and Wigmore Street. At the junction with Wigmore Street, Baker Street turns into Orchard Street, which ends when it meets with Oxford Street. After Portman Square the road continues as Orchard Street.

The street is served by the London Underground by Baker Street tube station, one of the world's oldest surviving underground stations. Next door is Transport for London's lost property office.

A significant robbery of a branch of Lloyds Bank took place on Baker Street in 1971.

In the United States, there is a pub/restaurant chain named "Baker Street Pub," that plays off of the Sherlock Holmes theme.^[1] Some locations even have the iconic British red phone booth outside.^[2]

Notable residents

55 Baker Street

In 1835, the first wax museum of Madame Tussauds was opened on Baker Street. The museum moved, just around the corner, to Marylebone Road in 1884.

Also in 1835 the sculptor James Fillans came to live and work from 82 Baker Street.

Residents of the prestigious mansion block, Chiltern Court, on the Regent's Park end of Baker Street include the novelists Arnold Bennett and H.G Wells who are commemorated with a blue plaque.

Thomas Charles Druce ran the Baker Street Bazaar until his death in 1864, and was later subject of the Druce Portland Case

In 1940 the headquarters of the Special Operations Executive moved to 64 Baker Street, they were often called the "Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes' gang of street urchins of the same name.

Baker Street Train Station

The Beatles' Apple Boutique was based at 94 Baker Street from 1967 to 1968.

For many years the head office of Marks & Spencer, formerly the United Kingdom's largest retailer, was at "Michael House" (named in parallel with the group's "St Michael" brand), 55 Baker Street, until the company relocated to the Paddington Basin in 2004. This was one of the best known corporate buildings in the United Kingdom, and has since been redeveloped as a modern office complex by London & Regional Properties^[3] to a design by MAKE Architects and Expedition Engineering.

A London County Council blue plaque commemorates Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger who lived at 120 Baker Street from 1803 to 1804.^[4] British singer Dusty Springfield lived on Baker Street in the 1960s.

The Seychelles maintains a Consulate at 111 Baker Street.^[5]

In media

Baker Street sign

In fiction, Sherlock Holmes, Basil, The Great Mouse Detective, Sherlock Hound, Danger Mouse, Sexton Blake, Carland Cross and James Black of Case Closed have all resided along the road.

The character Gregory House from the U.S. television series House M.D. resides at the fictional Flat B, 221 Baker Street in Princeton, New Jersey. House M.D. is loosely based upon and inspired by Sherlock Holmes.

"Baker Street" is a song by Gerry Rafferty, released in 1978. The song was a major worldwide hit, reaching Number 3 in the UK and Number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also released an album entitled Baker Street.

"Baker St. Muse" is a song from Jethro Tull's album Minstrel in the Gallery, which was released in 1975. (Baker Street is frequently mentioned in the lyrics of Jethro Tull songs.)

The 2008 film, The Bank Job was based on the 1971 robbery of Lloyds Bank in Baker Street.

"Some Girls", a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, makes a reference to the street.

Baker Street is one of a number of London landmarks named in the song "We Are London" by Madness on the album The Liberty of Norton Folgate.

See also

• List of eponymous roads in London

References

1. http://bakerstreetpub.com
2. http://bakerstreetpub.com/Sugar-Land/
3. Rossiter, James (2007-02-08). "UK developer wins $700m Panama contract". London: The Times. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
4. "PITT, WILLIAM, THE YOUNGER (1759-1806)". English Heritage. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
5. "The London Diplomatic List" (PDF). 14 December 2013.

Coordinates: 51°31′12″N 0°09′24″W / 51.5200°N 0.1566°W