Named after William Baker, who laid out the street in 1755.
Baker, 'a Gentleman of Marylebone', leased the land from the Portman Estate; some historians suggest the street is named after his son, who finished building it. The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, opened here in 1906, was soon shortened to Bakerloo. Baker Street is also the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes, at 221B.