I am not a pro. Hope one will comment. But I think they are.

I think the arch would look pretty strange without the columns.

Call a structural engineer if you are thinkng of replacing them. Or see if the architect's name is on file at city hall - often it is on the plans.

Looks like they could be support. Why do you want to remove them, they look like they belong there. I dont think they necessarily need to be white though, maybe try a color closer to the brick color, so they blend in a bit.

My engineer husband would not recommend removal (he was a little more emphatic than that.) But yes, do call a local structural to check.

I never did like red and white as a color combo. Above pics look much better!

Painting them and the other white trim sage or charcoal might help. Load your pic on some of the major paint company sites where they offer apps for "trying on" colors.

Thank you guys for the comments. The photo shared with the porch over front door was the original design on the blueprints that were left in the house. I don't know why they didn't proceed that way because it looks amazing. They checked inside the posts and they are oddly hollow. Hopefully they are decorative and not costly to redo the front of the house. This house hasn't been touched in 25 years, so a lot of costly replacements to do that aren't cosmetic!

" They checked inside the posts and they are oddly hollow. Hopefully they are decorative and not costly to redo the front of the house."

Hollow does not mean not load bearing. I will pretty much guarantee they are definitely carrying a load......................

Millworkman is correct. Hollow does not mean they are not load bearing. In fact, I think you can pretty much count on them being load bearing. I love the drawing of how the front should have been. Is there any chance, you could have that little balcony done, and shorten those posts, and reuse them. It would definitely improve the looks of the front of your house. If that isnt in the budget, then, just repaint them, so they dont stick out so much, and will blend in with the front. It will look good too. It looks like you have a black door etc. You could get by with the posts being black too, and that will blend them into that entry way.

The columns might not be load bearing in the sense of supporting the front of the house, but I think it's highly likely that the brick facade will be in a heap on your front steps sooner or later if you remove those columns. I also think it would look very odd with those architectural details and no columns

And I agree that hollow means nothing in terms of whether they are load bearing. Hollow columns are actually very structurally rigid and the hollowness helps prevent the warping you might have in a solid column.