K6 Telephone Kiosk

BASSINGHAM

1191/0/10004 HIGH STREET 26-MAR-10 K6 Telephone Kiosk

GV II K6 telephone kiosk.

DESCRIPTION: The K6 is a standardised design made of cast iron, painted red with long horizontal glazing in the door and sides and with the crowns situated on the top panels being applied not perforated. There are rectangular white display signs, reading TELEPHONE beneath the shallow-domed roof. It has modernised internal equipment. The kiosk retains its glass windows and original back, and shows no signs of damage.

The kiosk stands on the High Street in the centre of the village, outside an old wooden telephone exchange building. Opposite the kiosk, on the other side of the High Street, are two listed buildings, Green's Stores and The Tall House, attached to Green's Stores. Both date to the C18 and are listed at Grade II. To the south of the High Street is an unlisted but largely unaltered Wesleyan Methodist Chapel built in 1839.

HISTORY: The K6 was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 for the General Post Office on the occasion of King George V's Silver Jubilee. A milestone of C20 industrial design, the K6 was a development from its predecessor, Scott's neo-classically inspired and highly successful K2 kiosk, designed in 1924, and was more streamlined, compact and cost-effective to mass produce. The K2 and K6 telephone kiosks represent a thoughtful adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological requirements. Well over 70,000 K6s were eventually produced. In the 1960s many were replaced with a new kiosk type, but many still remain, and continue to be a valued feature of Britain's streetscapes.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The K6 telephone kiosk on the High Street in Bassingham is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Group value: The kiosk is in a conservation area and has a strong visual relationship with two listed buildings which stand about 20m away across the High Street. * Architectural and historic significance: The K6 telephone kiosk was designed in 1935 by Giles Gilbert Scott, one of the most important British architects, and is a milestone of industrial design.