Something that has recently struck me as interesting was the location of 221B Baker Street. Why did Doyle decide to place his protagonists in this particular place? An important thing to point out at this point, is that there is no real 221B Baker Street. The address "221B Baker street did not exist in 1881, nor did it exist in 1887 when A Study in Scarlet was published and Baker Street house numbers only extended into the 100s." It's not altogether surprising that the address in a work of fiction is falsified, but it is interesting that Sir Doyle still placed this building in a well-known area of London, just under Regent's park.

So why did he place it there? Looking at the map of Charles Booth's London, which shows the degrees of wealth for various different areas of London in the 19th century, shows that the area of Baker Street where Holmes lives, is in the Middle and Upper-Middle Class and Well-to-do section of the map. This means that holmes was based in a wealthy portion of London, which is in an area that had little crime. This is particularly interesting given how often he went to help the lower and working classes. I believe that it lent to Holmes' credibility, and it was specifically chosen to showcase that Holmes, even with his personal defects, was a man that could be trusted and looked to to handle the important matters that he often undertook. It was necessary to give Holmes the appearance of a man who could be a gentleman, since he was entrusted with many different tasks that had very delicate natures. It also showed that he wasn't a common person, and instead was a person that was taken seriously. Overall, the location of  221B Baker Street was an important decision and it enhanced the importance of Doyle's protagonists.

Sources: The Mystery of 221B Baker Street. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-mystery-of-221b-baker-st...

Charles Booth's London. https://booth.lse.ac.uk/map/16/-0.1538/51.5220/100/0