Three members of the tetraphenylmethane (TPM) phosphonate based family have been obtained the acid [C6H4PO(OH)2]4C·2H2O, the ester [C6H4PO(OEt)2]4C·H2O, and the lanthanum phosphonate La[C6H4PO7/4(OH)5/4]4C·4H2O. Their structures were revealed to be closely related to those of a series of tetrahedral tetraphosphonic acids templated or not by organic bases. The structural analysis of all these compounds allows their topochemical behavior to be understood on the basis of the existence of close packed columns, built up of CsCl-like pseudocubic bricks, involving one tetrahedral [C6H4]4C group surrounded by four PO3C tetrahedra. This model, complementary to the methodology developed by Zareba et al., paves the way to the research of TPM-based metal phosphonates in view of generating columnar hybrid materials. © 2016 American Chemical Society.