Editing Broad Street, Birmingham (section)

===Early history===
[[File:Broad Street from the western end print contrast.jpg|thumb|A print from an 1894 book showing the former Presbyterian church and now demolished Church of the Messiah (on Broad Street Tunnel)]]
[[File:Baskerville House from Broad Street, Birmingham.jpg|thumb|[[Baskerville House]] in 2007]]
In the 1500s, the area which is now known as Broad Street was made up of several schools and [[guild]]s such as The Biddles/Free School, Colmore, Shillon/Smallbrooke Guild/School, Billwiggler Croft and [[Bingley Hall|Byngas Hall]] which was later to become a home for the [[Lloyds Bank]] family and subsequently [[Bingley Hall]] and then [[Symphony Hall, Birmingham|Symphony Hall]]/ICC after Bingley Hall burned down.

In the 1750s, Broad Street was an unnamed country path that ran across Easy Hill from Bewdley Street (now [[Victoria Square, Birmingham|Victoria Square]]) and Swinford Street (now the top end of [[New Street, Birmingham|New Street]]) to [[Five Ways, Birmingham|Five Ways]] and on to [[Stourbridge]] and [[Bewdley]].

However, in the following years, Easy Hill began to develop with the construction of a house by [[John Baskerville]], a local printer and type-face designer. This led to the widening of the street which passed in front of his house. The path was soon removed and an established street was added that ran to the border of [[Edgbaston]] and, as a result of its widening, it was named Broad Street.

[[St Martin in the Bull Ring|St Martin's Church]] owned land on the southern end of Broad Street, at what is now Five Ways, and began to develop the land in 1773 after the passing of an [[Act of Parliament]]. The {{convert|22|acre|adj=on}} site was developed into an estate known as the 'Six Closes' or the 'Islington Estate' (named after Islington Row which bounded the south of the site). [[The Crown Inn, Birmingham|The Crown Inn]] was built in 1781, and survives in modified form.<ref name="Foster">{{Cite book| publisher = Yale University Press| isbn = 9780300107319| last = Foster| first = Andy| title = Birmingham: Pevsner Architectural Guides| location = New Haven| year = 2005}}</ref> By 1795, several streets had been created according to Pye's map. One of the streets that remain from the development is Tennant Street, named after William Tennant who had the [[advowson]] of St Martin's Church. Development slowed as a result of overseas wars, but rapidly increased after the [[Battle of Waterloo]].

[[File:Hyatt Regency -Birmingham -UK.jpg|thumb|upright|Hyatt Regency Hotel]]

Land along the street also developed and became a well established neighbourhood as a result of the connections with industry and Edgbaston, an upmarket area. In the 19th century, well established industries were established along the canals at the northern end of the street and residential properties were built at the southern end. Churches of various denominations were also built along the stretch of Broad Street, such as the [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|Unitarian]] [[Church of the Messiah, Birmingham|Church of the Messiah]], the [[Roman Catholic]] St Peter's Church, and the [[Anglican]] [[Immanuel Church, Birmingham|Immanuel Church]].{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}