How about a macro?
julia> using MacroTools
julia> macro col(expr)
@capture expr [x__]
Expr(:call, :hvcat, Expr(:tuple, [1 for _ in x]...), esc.(x)...)
end
@col (macro with 1 method)
julia> @col [1,2]
2×1 Array{Int64,2}:
1
2
julia> @col [1, 2, 3]
3×1 Array{Int64,2}:
1
2
3