22 stunning photos transformed into colour reveal Sheffield life in 1959, from Parkhill flats to Grand Hotel

They were the last days of the decade, before Sheffield was transformed by the so-called swinging 60s.

That was 1959.

It was an era before so many social changes transformed the city, and a time when young men still had to spend time in the military doing their National Service.

And the very fabric of the city was changing, with many of Sheffield's older buildings lost, while others, such as Parkhill Flats, sprang up, very different to the homes in the city which had been built in previous generations.

There was lots happening in Sheffield, in an era when The Star's photographers covered the goings on in the city using black and white photography.

But of course the world was not in black and white - it was very much in colour.

Now, decades later, the technology exists to transform some of those photos into colour to help capture what life looked like back then.

Most are taken from The Star's archives, with a few courtesy of Sheffield Council's 'Picture Sheffield' archive

Our gallery gives you the chance to see the transformed streets.

And it also gives you the chance to look inside the buildings of that time, many of which have changed as technology has affected the way we live our lives and do business.

Take a look at that world, in colour again for the first time in more than half a century.