The Quadrant and Part of Regent Street

While most of Regent Street was residential, the curved section between Piccadilly and Oxford Street, known as The Quadrant, was devoted to fashionable shops. The Quadrant was a covered walkway, providing people with a place to stroll in all weathers. There were lodgings for single men above the ships, and balconies over the colonnades, so that the single men would be encouraged to converse with walkers below, thus enlivening street life.