Oxford Street It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was notorious for public hangings of prisoners in Newgate Prison. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century, and began to change from residential to commercial and retail purposes by the late 19th century, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution. The first department stores in Britain opened in the early 20th century, including Selfridges, John Lewis and HMV. Unlike nearby shopping streets such as Bond Street, it has retained an element of downmarket trading alongside more prestigious retail stores. The street
Regent Street some Nash-designed sewers. The current design is an example of the Beaux Arts approach to urban design: an assembly of separate buildings on a grand scale, designed to harmonise and produce an impressive overall effect. Strict rules governed the reconstruction. Each block had to be designed with a continuous unifying street façade and finished in Portland stone. The first redevelopment was Regent House, just south of Oxford Circus. The stylistic tone for the rebuilding was set by Sir Reginald Blomfield's Quadrant. The architect Norman Shaw, then aged 73, was brought in to draw up proposals for the Circus and the