There are Regency-style houses built in the mid-19th century in the crescents of Park Town, initially in the middle of the countryside but now surrounded by the rest of the suburb.

Today, many homes are occupied by rich London commuters, attracted by the good schools.

North Oxford has attracted famous residents, such as the authors and academics J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) and Iris Murdoch (1919–1999).

Murdoch lived with her husband and fellow academic John Bayley, and the area was featured in the biographical film, Iris.

Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984), Poet Laureate, was an enthusiast about North Oxford and wrote poems mentioning the area, such as May-Day Song for North Oxford: Belbroughton Road is bonny, and pinkly bursts the spray Of prunus and forsythia across the public way, For a full spring-tide of blossom seethed and departed hence, Leaving land-locked pools of jonquils by sunny garden fence.