Friday Photo- The Grand Hotel on Colmore Row

Walking along Colmore Row last week, I looked up and saw a wonderful sight- The Grand Hotel, undressed of all its scaffolding. The Hotel almost adorns Colmore Row, and the facade with its delicate brick and terracotta stonework, could easily be a building in city-centre Paris.

In fact, the building is a Grade II*-listed Victorian hotel, designed in the French Renaissance style, so you’d be forgiven if you forgot you were in twenty-first century Birmingham, just for a minute. Built in 1875, the building was closed in 2002 due to issues with crumbling stonework, and has been covered up ever since, but soon it will open as a luxury 152-bedroom hotel. I only managed to photograph the beautiful sign, so hopefully the hotel can feature as another Friday Photo in a few months’ time when the building is open for business once again.