Sadly not all of the city’s architectural treasures receive the attention they deserve. Many are poorly maintained and others are under threat.

There are currently thirteen Birmingham buildings on the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ register and many more are the subject of campaigns by heritage organisations like the Victorian Society and the Birmingham Conservation Trust.

Here is a brief guide to ten of the city’s most troubled buildings. Some are already undergoing desperately needed repairs, while other less valued structures may soon be lost forever, so get your hiking boots on and seek them out while you can.

Our journey through time begins in the 1400s in the village of Kings Norton. On the north-west side of the green is the Old Grammar School, winner of BBC2’s Restoration series. This Grade II* listed building was built in the early 15th century as the priest’s house to the 12th century St Nicholas church, and later became home to one of the oldest grammar schools in the region.

The school’s most documented head teacher, Thomas Hall, who taught there in the 17th century, amassed one of the largest libraries in the country, which is now housed at Birmingham Central Library. Despite his bibliographical bequest, Hall, a puritanical protestant, was not the most popular person in Kings Norton, which at that time was a Royalist enclave.

The Old Grammar School, owned by Kings Norton Parish, has lain empty for some time and is need of repairs, but due to its success on the Restoration series the Heritage Lottery Fund has pledged £2.5 million towards work to restore and adapt it as an education centre for schools where local history can be taught.

If we skip forward one hundred years, past the English Civil War, and further north to leafy Edgbaston, here we will find Perrot’s Folly, a Grade II* listed building located on Waterworks Road. The tower was built in 1758 by John Perrot who wanted to see the grave of his wife who was buried ten miles away.

Sadly for Perrot the contours of the land ruined his plan but the tower survives to this day. The 29 metre (96 foot) brick structure consists of a hexagonal tower with a round stair turret attached to the side. It gave local author, JRR Tolkien, who grew up nearby, the inspiration for the second episode of his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Two Towers.

Nowadays the building is used by the University of Birmingham as an observatory but is suffering from structural cracks and is just years from crumbling away. A recent report found it required £500,000 in structural repairs to be saved and a further £12,000 a year to keep it maintained.

In the hundred years following John Perrot’s demise, Birmingham underwent its biggest transformation. Industrial growth and migration from the countryside meant the town’s population swelled to 60,000 and by 1851 Birmingham was producing half of world’s manufactured goods.

One building that epitomises the growth of Birmingham is the Grand Hotel, recently saved from demolition after being listed in May 2004. The French Renaissance-style building stands to the north of St Phillip’s Cathedral and was designed by Thomson Plevins in 1875.

Thomson Plevins was trained in his father’s firm, Messrs Pashby and Plevins Builders, and went on to build the Grand Hotel for Isaac Horton, a land and property owner who constructed of a number of commercial buildings in central Birmingham. The hotel was substantially altered in 1891 by Martin and Chamberlain who also added the building on Barwick Street.

Plevins also worked for Horton in designing the Midland Hotel, New Street – now called the Burlington Hotel. Isaac Horton always located his buildings near to stations to maximise on the trade from travellers.

He provided lounges and coffee rooms as well as hotel accommodation and stock rooms for tradesmen. Horton’s lavish hotels must have provided a grandiose debarkation point for the railways into this burgeoning industrial town.

Just north of the city centre on the edge of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is the Grade II* listed Icknield Street School. The red brick building is now a Sikh Temple and was built in 1883 by Martin and Chamberlain, the same architects who extended the Grand Hotel and designed the original 1879 Central Library (demolished 1974).

John Henry Chamberlain joined a partnership with William Martin in 1864 and the pair became the leading gothic architects in Birmingham. Their offices were located in the now demolished Christ Church buildings at the top of New Street, close to the Town Hall and Council Buildings in Victoria Square.

Their work included numerous schools and prominent public buildings such as hospitals and libraries and typically displayed flamboyant decorative brickwork. The school is topped by a slated spire which is decorated with elaborate ironwork. Sadly the building has been damaged by fire and remains without part of its roof.

In 1889 Queen Victoria granted Birmingham its city status and if you trek southwards again to Moseley you can find an abundance of Victorian architecture, typical of the era. The most notable perhaps are the swimming baths and library on Moseley Road. Moseley Library, designed by JH Cossins and Peacock, was built in 1895 and the swimming baths, designed by William Hale and Son, were added 12 years later. Both buildings are Grade II* listed.

The two buildings were originally listed in 1982 but at the start of August 2004, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport upgraded the pool and library from Grade II listed status to Grade II* to reflect the historical importance of the buildings.

Last year Birmingham City Council launched an attempt to secure £10 million in funding to upgrade the pool and keep it in use but a more detailed survey has since put the cost at almost £15 million. In August 2004, 24 Hour Museum reported that the baths would close at the end of October for emergency repairs, although concern has mounted over whether the pool will ever be reopened.

Moseley Road Public Baths are home to the last surviving washing baths in Birmingham. The city’s first public wash house opened in Kent Street in Digbeth in 1849 following the introduction of the 1846 Public Baths and Wash Houses Act but was demolished in 1930.

Almost opposite Moseley Road Pool stands the Highgate School Annex, or the Moseley School of Art. The building is also Grade II* listed and was built in 1899 by architect WH Bidlake of Waterloo Street, who was also responsible for dozens of churches across the region. It was one of the first schools to train artists to work as designers for manufacturing and went on to become Moseley Junior School of Art in 1920, teaching a wider curriculum to 13-16 year-olds.

Moseley School of Art eventually merged with a nearby grammar school and closed in 1975. Although the building is now occupied by the British Association of Muslims, it had previously lain empty and suffered from neglect. In recent years former students have formed an association which has raised money through art exhibitions held at the school, to help fund its restoration.

In 1876 Birmingham’s Mayor Joseph Chamberlain sought permission from Parliament to cut a new street through the slums of the city from New Street station to the Aston Road. This was to become Corporation Street.

One of the most spectacular buildings still remaining from the construction of Corporation Street is the Methodist Central Hall. The current building was designed by Ewan and James A. Harper in 1899 to replace the first central hall of 1887 after it became too small for the expanding congregation.

The building comprises of more than thirty rooms including the central space which can seat up to 2,000 people. It boasts an ornate balcony with Art Nouveau decoration and a still has the original stage and organ pipes. The Central Hall cost £96,165 to build and its imposing red brick and terracotta tower can be seen over a mile away on the Expressway approach to the city.

In recent years the building has been used as a nightclub but was closed in 2003. Despite its Grade II* listed status, Birmingham City Council has recently given its approval for the building to be converted into flats. Although the central space will be preserved, staircases and other features will be destroyed and the building removed from public use.

Throughout the 20th century Birmingham endured many changes. During World War II the city suffered heavy bombardment because of its significance as an industrial and manufacturing centre but, for the buildings that survived the air raids, the battle had only just begun.

In the 1950s and 60s many of the city’s most prominent buildings such as the Central Library and the Victorian glass-roofed New Street Station were demolished to make way for new structures of concrete, glass and steel. To the Brummie of the 60s the Victorian buildings just looked old and run-down.

In 2005 it seems that few lessons have been learned. Although many of the remaining Victorian buildings have been listed and their historic importance recognised, the 60s architecture, which for years has typified Birmingham, is now falling victim to redevelopment. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry building is one example.

This huge steel and glass building is located on the junction of Harborne Road and Highfield Road, near Five Ways. It was designed in 1958 by John Madin, probably Birmingham’s most important post-war architect. Madin designed a number of Birmingham’s most prominent landmarks including the Post and Mail Building and the current Central Library, all of which are under threat of demolition.

The Chamber of Commerce building is actually two buildings linked by a bridge. It won a bronze medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects for the best building produced in the five counties surrounding Birmingham in five years.

In the building’s entrance hall is a colourful mosaic by British war artist John Piper. The City Council is keen to redevelop this area although it has deferred any planning decision until April 2005 so an appropriate alternative location for the Piper mural can be found.

Another of Madin’s architectural achievements under imminent threat is the Post and Mail Building on Colmore Circus. It is already boarded up ready for demolition, yet the building has been hailed as the greatest commercial development of the 60s.

Built in 1960, Madin’s structure was inspired by the Lever Building in New York. The complex consists not just of the main tower but a newspaper printing facility and production works. The main tower of the development has been empty for some time and is likely to be demolished after two listing attempts failed.

The annexed offices still house the staff of the Birmingham Post and Evening Mail but Trinity Mirror, the owner of the newspapers, recently moved its newspaper production to Fort Dunlop on the outskirts of the city.

The last and most unusual building in our trail through time is Birmingham Central Library. Another Madin creation, the Central Library was built between 1969 and 1973 to replace the original Central Library of 1879 by Martin and Chamberlain.

The building is particularly unusual because its central design is a pyramid turned on its head. At the time it was the largest public library in Europe but it has now outgrown its collection and there are plans to demolish it and build a replacement near Millennium Point.

Prince Charles once commented that Birmingham Central Library looked "more like a place for burning books than keeping them” yet there have been pleas from architectural experts and organisations such as the Twentieth Century Society to preserve the building for the sake of history.