[1][2] The street mainly consists of Georgian-style stone-faced Grade II listed terraced houses.

[3][4] Other famous residents of St John Street have included the theologians Henry Chadwick and Arthur Peacocke; authors P. D. James, Iain Pears and J. R. R. Tolkien; and musician Thom Yorke.

It was in her study here that she worked on her translation of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations, who also lived there towards the end of his life.

[5] The founders of the high IQ society Mensa International, Lancelot Ware and Roland Berrill, lived in rooms at 12 St John Street when they started the society in 1946.

[6] [7] William Ward (1807–1889), Mayor of[Oxford, lived at 22 St John Street.