The street is notable for retaining several historic buildings built during the reign of Queen Victoria.
[1] In 1822, a two-storey building, Masonic Hall, with a cupola was built on what is now Colborne Street.
[2] The Milburn building was built in 1886 at 47-55 Colborne Street, in Toronto, by architect Edward James Lennox.
[3] The 15 storey Trader’s Bank Building at the corner of Colborne and Yonge streets was the tallest building in the British Empire when it was built in 1906.
[4] In 1914, the King Edward Hotel requested a permit to build a pedestrian bridge across Colborne Street to an annex on the south side.