K6 Telephone Kiosk

1801/0/10052 08-OCT-10

HAMBLEDON VANN LANE K6 TELEPHONE KIOSK

II

K6 telephone kiosk

DESCRIPTION: The K6 is a standardised design made of cast iron, painted red overall 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-curved roof. It has modernised internal equipment. It is intact and in very good condition (2009). It retains all glass windows.

This kiosk is situated directly next to a pond and directly adjacent to the village shop and post office. The post office is surrounded by woods to its north, an open field with a pond to its west, and a cricket ground to the south. On the opposite side of the cricket ground, approximately 75m to the south, stands Admers Cottage (Grade II). There are few other buildings around where the kiosk stands in this idyllic rural location.

HISTORY: The K6 telephone kiosk is a milestone of C20 industrial design. 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. The K6 was a development from his earlier highly successful K2 telephone kiosk design of 1924, of Neo-classical inspiration. The K6 was more streamlined aesthetically, more compact and more cost-effective to mass produce. Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) was one of the most important of modern British architects; his many celebrated commissions include the Anglican cathedral of Liverpool and Battersea power station. The K2 and K6 telephone kiosks can be said to represent a very thoughtful adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological requirements. Well over 70,000 K6s were eventually produced. In the 1960s many were replaced with far plainer kiosk types. But many still remain, and continue to be an iconic feature on Britain's streetscapes.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The K6 telephone kiosk in Hambledon, Surrey, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It contributes to the picturesque landscape setting in which it stands * It has a contextual relationship with the adjacent post office * It is a representative example within a rural setting of this important C20 industrial design