K2 Telephone Kiosk To North Of Entrance To Mount Street Gardens

This is a K2 telephone kiosk, dating from circa 1927 and designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. It was created following a competition launched in 1923 by the General Post Office (GPO) to improve upon the earlier, less successful K1 design.

The kiosk follows the standard design: a square form constructed from cast iron and painted red, with a distinctive shallow, domed roof supported on pendentives. There are 18 glazed rectangular lights to the door and sides, each side framed by a shallow, reeded strip with small decorative circular details at the angles. A white glazed panel bearing the word 'TELEPHONE' in black is positioned on each face of the frieze. Each segmental pediment of the dome sides features a perforated crown, representing the GPO symbol.

The kiosk’s design is reminiscent of Soane's tomb in St Pancras Churchyard, a reference to Scott’s role as a trustee of the Soane Museum. Approximately 1,700 K2 kiosks were erected, mainly in Metropolitan London, and just over 200 are believed to survive. It was superseded by Scott's K6 design in 1935, which was installed nationally.

This particular K2 stands to the north of the entrance to Mount Street Gardens, alongside another K2 to the south. The gardens themselves were previously known as St George’s Hanover Square Gardens and were laid out between 1889 and 1890 on a former parish burial ground.

The K2 telephone kiosk is designated for its design, representing a successful fusion of architectural tradition and contemporary technology by a leading 20th-century architect. Its relative rarity and its characteristic presence in the London streetscape are also factors in its group value, alongside other listed buildings nearby, including the other K2 kiosk, the garden gate piers, Liddon House, and Grosvenor Chapel.