I have only half read some of these posting recently, and might have got the wrong end of the stick completely, but I can confirm after viewing the 1881 census on disk, the Birmingham Boarding School was not the Bluecoat School (which was opposite St Philip's Church, at right angles to Colmore Row), and the Bluecoat School is actually on the census as 'uninhabited'. Next door to that is 'Gt Western Arcade'. As part of what is now Colmore Row was actually Ann Street (from Newhall Street to the Town Hall), and moving a little bit further up Ann Street, one of the next buildings was in Severn Street (off Hill Street), so it looks like the Birmingham Boarding School was towards the Town Hall end of Colmore Row - possibly just at the end of Waterloo Street, and next to Christchurch (demolished 1902 to make way for what became Galloways Corner). I hope this has helped, if only a little. Pauline