[5] Stradun became the city's main thoroughfare in the 13th century, and its current appearance was for the most part created following the devastating 1667 earthquake in which most of the buildings in Ragusa (as Dubrovnik was then called) were destroyed.

Before the earthquake the houses which line the street were not so uniformly designed as they appear today, with many of them featuring arcades and elaborate decorations.

[3] Following the 1667 earthquake and a large fire which broke out immediately afterwards, the Republic of Ragusa passed a law which specified the layout of all future residential buildings constructed in the city.

Because of this all of the 17th-century houses lining the Stradun share the same pattern - the ground level always housed a shop with a street entrance featuring a door and a window in a single frame under a semicircular arch (during the day the door would be kept closed and goods would be handed to customers over the sill, thereby serving as a counter),[6] and a storage room in the back with a separate alley entrance.

[9] On 8 July 2010 Stradun was also site of a fund-raising exhibition tennis match played by Goran Ivanišević and John McEnroe in front of an audience of 600 and televised live in 10 countries.