Beaumont Street was laid out from 1828 to 1837 with elegant terraced houses in the Regency style. Before that, it was the location of Beaumont Palace, now noted by a plaque near the junction with Walton Street. Nikolaus Pevsner considered it "the finest street ensemble of Oxford."

Richard I (reigned 6 July 1189 – 6 April 1199) and John, who succeeded him (reigned 6 April 1199 – 19 October 1216), both sons of Henry II, were born at Beaumont Palace in Oxford on 8 September 1157 and 24 December 1166 respectively.

At the western end is Worcester College and the junction with Walton Street to the north and Worcester Street to the south. Halfway along to the north is St John Street. To the south is the Oxford Playhouse, designed by Sir Edward Maufe and built in 1938, where many University productions are held. To the north at the eastern end is the Ashmolean Museum.  Oxford's foremost hotel, the Randolph, is on the corner with Magdalen Street, designed by William Wilkinson in the Victorian Gothic style and built in 1864. 

The Institute of Archaeology, part of the School of Archaeology in the University of Oxford, was established in 1962 and is located at 36 Beaumont Street.

In poem "Wherefrom", Francis William Bourdillon a British poet and translator wrote about Beaumont Street legend:

Just at the end of Beaumont Street,
In front of Worcester walls,
Strange shrieks of woe the passer greet,
As every footstep falls.

Beaumont Street - Wikipedia