33, 35, 37 Queen’s Road Central

Sun, 08/27/2023 - 23:49

Cropped from Queen's Road Central.

Three buildings on Queen’s Road Central starting with no. 33 on the right. All three houses have columns at their front, but different ones and they therefore are easy to distinguish.

33 QRC has two square columns or piers at the corners of the house and three round ones in the centre. They all stand on a square base and a short square pier above. On top is a horizontal beam that supports the upper part of the building.

35 QRC has two square columns or piers at the corners and two round ones in the middle. They (definitely the centre ones) stand on a short octagonal pier (see also here). They all end in a capital. On these three arches are built to support the upper floors.

37 QRC has four square columns or piers. A bit more than half-way up they have a square capital (possibly not the correct term) without any applications, and at the upper end another square capital. On top is a horizontal beam that supports the balcony above.

Date picture taken
1900s
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33 QRC has two square columns or piers at the corners of the house and three round ones in the centre.

It does look like there are five columns, but I can only see 4 column bases at ground-level!

A possible explanation is that the two end columns look square on their fronts and outer edges, but on their inner edges they have half  of a round column attached.

Hi David. I also was unsure about the numbers of columns, but I finally thought that there were five. The outer pillars are square ones and made from blocks. The round columns are one piece each. Therefore I still think that there were five. I don't think that the columns were not arranged symmetrically, so there should be two columns at the left edge, although you don't see the base.

Just compare this photo from 1940

33, 35, 37 Queen’s Road Central (1940)
33, 35, 37 Queen’s Road Central (1940), by Klaus

 The left outer pillar is set back a bit compared to the columns, so it's a bit difficult to see how many columns there really are due to the acute angle.

P.S. If the bicycle man wouldn't be there, it would be easier to judge.

Found this 1936 photo:

1936 Queen's Road Central
1936 Queen's Road Central, by Klaus

Gives a slightly better view on the columns/pillars of 33 Queen's Road Central. Still believe in the "5 columns theory", but it's not clear enough to prove it.