 Initially , the street was occupied by military officers and their wives , along with politicians : William Pitt the Younger wrote letters from the street when it was called Savile Street ; Irish @-@ born playwright and MP , Richard Brinsley Sheridan lived at 14 Savile Row for a short time , before his death at 7 Savile Row in 1816 . Jules Verne had Phileas Fogg , his lead character in Around the World in Eighty Days , live at 7 Savile Row – a " fashionable address " and " the former home of Sheridan " . It may have been the affluent and influential nature of the residents of Savile Row that first attracted dealers in luxury goods to the area . Tailors started to take premises around Savile Row in the late 18th century , first in Cork Street , about 1790 , then by 1803 in Savile Row itself . In 1846 , Henry Poole , credited as creator of the dinner jacket or tuxedo , opened an entrance at 37 Savile Row from his late father 's tailoring premises at 4 Old Burlington Street . As tailoring moved into the street , the house frontages were altered to bring natural light into the tailors ' working area with the addition of glass frontages and light wells . The houses have been much altered over time ; the original Burlingtonian design has been mostly lost , though No. 14 still retains much of the original external features . 
