Baker Street is Sherlock Holmes’s London base and, during Dr. Watson’s investigation on the moor, the apparent center of Holmes’s work. Its significance lies less in any described physical setting than in its role as a point of correspondence: Watson sends reports to Holmes there, and Holmes uses that expected connection to conceal where he is while continuing to follow the case.

London Base and Apparent Distance

While Dr. Watson is at Baskerville Hall, he receives only a few short notes from Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street. They contain little comment on the information Watson has supplied or on his mission, leading him to suppose that Holmes is absorbed by a separate blackmail case in London. When Holmes eventually appears on the moor, he confirms that this was what he wanted Watson to believe. Baker Street therefore functions as the apparent location of Holmes’s attention, though it does not establish that he was physically there during the investigation.

Reports and the Investigation

Dr. Watson composes a report after the Barrymores’ explanation of their nighttime signals to Selden, hoping that the new information will bring Holmes into the case. His reports are sent to Baker Street, then forwarded immediately to Coombe Tracey, where Holmes has been staying. The relay keeps Watson’s observations available to Holmes despite their separation: Holmes later produces the collected papers, which are well thumbed, and says they reached him rapidly, delayed by only one day on their way.

The reports also show how Baker Street links two investigators working on parallel lines. Watson takes pride in the care with which he has written them and fears that Holmes’s secrecy has made them useless. Holmes’s evident reading and praise of Watson’s zeal and intelligence correct that impression. The address is thus not merely a destination for messages; it is the expected point in a chain of communication whose continuation allows Holmes to receive and use Watson’s observations without revealing his own position.

Concealment and Narrative Function

For Dr. Watson, Baker Street is initially a reassuring explanation for Sherlock Holmes’s absence: Holmes seems to be pursuing another London case while Watson handles the Devonshire inquiry. In reality, Holmes has come down secretly and has arranged for Watson’s reports to be forwarded to him. The contrast between the supposed London investigation and the concealed work near Coombe Tracey makes the address part of Holmes’s deception, while preserving Watson’s usefulness as an unwitting field investigator.

Baker Street therefore marks both distance and connection. It stands for the familiar London base from which Watson expects Holmes to operate, yet its correspondence route extends the investigation into the countryside. The reports passing through it sustain the appearance that Holmes is elsewhere even as their contents help him keep track of events on the moor.