K6 Telephone Kiosk

1671/0/10006

NETHER SILTON LEAD LANE K6 Telephone Kiosk

02-JUN-09

II K6 telephone kiosk

DESCRIPTION: the K6 is a standardised design made of cast iron, painted red overall with long horizontal glazing in 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 It retains 69 glass windows, with only three having been replaced by Perspex. The red paint is flaking in many places.

The kiosk stands in a hedgerow at the side of the main road through the village. It is located immediately in front of a pair of Grade II listed cottages. On the opposite side of the road, approximately 20m to the south of the kiosk stand the Church of All Saints and the Joiners Shop occupied by Mr Dennis (both Grade II). The telephone kiosk has a strong visual relationship with these three listed buildings.

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 Nether Silton, North Yorkshire, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It has a strong visual relationship with three listed buildings, one of which is stands before frontally * It is a representative example within a village setting of this important C20 industrial design

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