The College decided not to emulate the now old-fashioned layout of Park Town, choosing instead something more informal where the best houses, ideally detached, were separated by wide roads, and sat on generous plots.

Although there was no master plan for the whole suburb, the college and its professional advisers drew up schemes for particular estates which ensured an orderly layout. Except in Norham Manor, where there are some winding roads, the street pattern is almost grid-like and was largely influenced by the Banbury and Woodstock roads running from north to south. The rigidity of the later street layout was softened and the area made 'picturesque' by the low density housing, large gardens, and the trees and shrubs which flowed through the railings and over the low garden walls.

North Oxford was socially segregated with the best houses concentrated on the eastern side of the suburb. Houses for the working classes continued to be built in the west, and in between, there was a buffer of lower middle class housing to keep apart the 'welcomed wealthy and the tolerated tradesman' .