K6 Telephone Kiosk

LITTLE MILTON

316/0/10002 GORE STREET 23-JAN-07 K6 telephone kiosk

GV II K6 telephone box. Designed in 1935 by Giles Gilbert Scott; the date of this example is not known.

MATERIALS: Cast iron, glass.

DESCRIPTION: Glazed door (in this case the door is a replacement with perspex panes) and sides beneath a domical roof; there are narrow panes on either side of the horizontal glazing. In the segmental upper structure on each side is a relief crown, placed above a glazed panel bearing the word TELEPHONE. This example is painted red.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The archetypal K6 telephone kiosk was designed by the eminent architect Giles Gilbert Scott (of Battersea Power Station and Liverpool Cathedral fame) in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V, and was a development on Scott's 1924 K2 design. Generally painted red, the Neoclassical design, influenced by the work of the Regency architect Sir John Soane, is of special architectural interest for the quality of the architectural design as applied to an industrially produced object of mass communication. Some 70,000 K6's were ultimately produced, and it is therefore necessary to identify the best examples of the type for designation. To be listable a kiosk needs to have a strong visual relationship with more than one listed building. This particular example stands on a small green alongside a group of listed buildings including the village post office.