K6 Telephone Kiosk

1519/0/10022 08-OCT-09

KENTON JUNCTION OF FORE STREET & CHURCH STREET 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 appears to be intact and in fair condition (2009).

This telephone kiosk is situated behind a small wall at the east end of a car park at the centre of the village. Approximately 35m to the west stand 1-9 Church Street, a row of terraced houses listed together at Grade II. Opposite these, approximately 45m from the kiosk, stand the Almshouses and their garden wall and gate piers (collectively listed at Grade II). Directly to the west of this is the Grade I Church of All Saints, and 30m to the east of the kiosk stands Trinity Cottage and adjoining corner shop and house (Grade II). The kiosk stands at the centre of this proliferation of listed buildings. In the car park where the kiosk stands there is also an unlisted war memorial.

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 Kenton, Devon, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It has a strong visual relationship with three listed buildings * It is situated in close proximity to a Grade I church * It is a representative example within a village setting of this important C20 industrial design