Construction of Englezovac started in 1880 after a Scottish businessman and Nazarene Francis Mackenzie bought a large piece of land in 1879 from Đorđe Simić, Serbian politician and prime minister, for 7,500 ducats.

Land was bounded by the modern streets of Beogradska, Njegoševa, Molerova, Makenzijeva (named after Mackenzie), Katanićeva, Bore Stankovića, Skerlićeva and Bulevar oslobođenja.

[1] As the Simićev Majur was a marshy area, Mackenzie originally planned to drain the land and organize agricultural production.

"The Society for the Embellishment of Vračar" suggested to Belgrade City Council to rename Englezovac to Savinac (Serbian for Sava's place) on 31 March 1894.

They stated that it is "a shame for the Serbian capital that a whole district is called Englishman's" and inconceivable that a national shrine (Temple of Saint Sava) lie on foreign property.