K6 telephone kiosk

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GREAT TIMBLE NORTH LANE K6 telephone kiosk

01-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 in very good condition (2009) and retains all glass windows.

The telephone kiosk stands at the side of the northern road through this small village. It is located on a small green within an arc of three listed buildings which surround it to the north and west, each approximately 20m away from the kiosk: Plumtree Farmhouse (Grade II), Well Cover approximately 20m west of Plumtree Farmhouse (Grade II) and Timble Inn (Grade II). The telephone kiosk has a strong visual relationship with these three listed buildings as a collective group.

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 10,000 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.