K6 Telephone Kiosk

1300/0/10006

THRESHFIELD MAIN STREET 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 is not in good condition (2009) but is in its original configuration. The TELEPHONE signs are intact and it retains all its glass windows. The red paint is flaking and faded in many places.

The kiosk is situated at the southern corner of the village green, 30m from and forming a close visual relationship with the Grade II listed stocks. To the east of the green runs Main Street, on which stand the Old Post Office (Grade II), Manor House (Grade II) and Manor House Barn (Grade II), all of which have a close visual relationship with the telephone kiosk when approached from the south.

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 Threshfield, North Yorkshire, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It has a strong visual relationship with four listed buildings * It is a representative example within a village setting of this important C20 industrial design

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