diff --git a/gtsam/base/blockMatrices.h b/gtsam/base/blockMatrices.h
index a95f1a6ba..a1baecd76 100644
--- a/gtsam/base/blockMatrices.h
+++ b/gtsam/base/blockMatrices.h
@@ -338,6 +338,8 @@ public:
   typedef MATRIX FullMatrix;
   typedef Eigen::Block<MATRIX> Block;
   typedef Eigen::Block<const MATRIX> constBlock;
+  typedef typename FullMatrix::ColXpr::SegmentReturnType Column;
+  typedef typename FullMatrix::ConstColXpr::ConstSegmentReturnType constColumn;
 
 private:
   static FullMatrix matrixTemp_; // just for finding types
@@ -445,9 +447,6 @@ public:
   /** access to full matrix */
   const FullMatrix& fullMatrix() const { return matrix_; }
 
-  typedef typeof((FullMatrix)matrixTemp_.col(0).segment(0, 1)) Column;
-  typedef typeof(((const FullMatrix&)matrixTemp_).col(0).segment(0, 1)) constColumn;
-
   Column column(size_t i_block, size_t j_block, size_t columnOffset) {
   	assertInvariants();
   	size_t i_actualBlock = i_block + blockStart_;