When is a Column Not a Column?

I am looking today at No. 5 Architectural Columns in Rinda's Photography Scavenger Hunt. The place to visit to look at 18th Century architecture is certainly Bath and if you have never been there pop it on your to do list.

Yesterday I had a visit to the hairdresser. His salon is on the first floor in George St and has a view over one of the finest streets in Bath - Milsom St which is the up market shopping end of the city. I suddenly realised as I rushed to my appointment that I was passing some fine architectural columns. Well they are columns but they don't hold anything up. They are decorative Corinthian columns which adorn this fine street which was built in 1762. 

Halfway up the centre building which is The National Westminster bank is more ornate than its neighbours with fine examples of these columns.

Most of these buildings which are now shops, banks and restaurants were originally houses. The top of Milsom St has ornate buildings on either side. Both used to be banks and still have the banking halls inside. On one side was The National Westminster which is now Loch Fyne Fish Restaurant. This building is elaborately decorated.

The other side was Lloyds Bank whose lettering can still be seen and is now a  Miller and Carter Steakhouse.

Over the years of sitting in the hairdressers chair I have often pondered over why these two grand buildings don't match and why one has round columns and one has square ones. Were the owners trying to out match each other? 

By coincidence a picture appeared on Facebook yesterday of the bottom of Milsom St in 1895. You can see columns on the bottom right hand building and the centre building bulging out.

The main difference today is not the buildings but the traffic!