What is this called on the brick column and between bricks?

[u587162]

Could someone please tell me what the white thing is called at the top of this brick column and also what the white profiling is between the brick course?

Would this sort of column look odd in a garden to form the columns of a supporting boundary wall do you think?

 

[tony1851]

Pier cap, or capital?

The white thing is a (very short) string course.

It might look OK on a boundary wall to Blenheim Palace, but on Acacia Avenue...........?

 

[u587162]

Lol, we live in our little world and aspire to live on Blenheim Palace Road....
No I will do without the top bit (coin?) but if I can find a detailed profile of the base of the coin / cap that I might be tempted. What is a typical cost do you think?

What is the purpose of the string course, is it for design or to help let the water run off? What is it typically made of?

Thanks for your reply.

 

[tony1851]

What's 'coin'? Are you perhaps confusing it with 'quoin', which is something different.

Might look better without the orb on top.

The purpose of the 'string' was generally just as a decorative feature - can't see any practical justification.

Cost.........?

 

[u587162]

Sorry typo, yes I meant capital...got my terminology mixed up with quoin for other designs I saw at top of buildings.

Is that made of plaster or concrete?

Thanks again.

 

[Nige F]

Would this sort of column look odd in a garden to form the columns of a supporting boundary wall do you think?
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Yes it would Though there is a small house near me calling itself ********** Manor with an entrance like your picture . Comical thing is there never was a manor there let alone a gatehouse which the house could be

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

I reckon that top 24" of the pier cost over £1k. I had a posh side door in a garden wall which had two 10' high pillars with a arch between them. To cap the pillars, I used a precast chimney capping which had the drip groove in it, a reasonable smooth curved top profile and a 9" diam hole in the centre of it.
I then then bought a pair of 15" diam concrete balls which sat very nicely in the hole. Ever tried lifting such a ball up a ladder and placing it in a hole?.
Not as posh as the picture but a lot more affordable.
Frank

 

[^woody^]

It's a shame the brickwork is ****e

 

[u587162]

what's wrong with the brickwork, looks good to me untrained eye? Unless you mean just the bottom bit?

 

[^woody^]

Dog rough engineers, poor bonding on the plinths - (3/4's on the ends and a 1/2 in the middle), straight joints on top of the plinths, the perps are Sunday joints at the base of the pier which get tighter towards the top which means it's out of plumb.

Ideally they should not have used stretcher bond either as it's got awful reverse bond (bricks at the end of a wall should match)

Sign off the times I suppose