It's hard to imagine Colmore Row was once a country track cutting through open farmland.
The area started to change with the building of St Philip's Church, now Birmingham Cathedral, in the early 18th century when plots of land were let for development. So too did its name, from New Hall Lane, to Ann Street, then Colmore Row, named after the family which owned much of the area.
The first buildings on Colmore Row were late 18th-century Georgian houses, but when leases on these buildings started to expire they were replaced with the fine Victorian architecture that still gives the area its character today.
Colmore Row has always been the centre of Birmingham's financial district and one of the most prestigious addresses in the Midlands.
At the heart of the street is the much-loved Grand Hotel, currently undergoing extensive renovation and redevelopment. The street stretches from Victoria Square in the West to Snow Hill station in the east - itself the subject of development speculation.
