K6 Telephone Kiosk

The K6 telephone kiosk is a standardised design from 1935, made of cast iron and painted red. It features long horizontal glazing in the door and sides, with applied crowns on the top panels instead of perforated details. Rectangular white display signs read “TELEPHONE” beneath the shallow-curved roof. The interior contains modernised equipment. The kiosk is in good condition.

Designed by Giles Gilbert Scott for the General Post Office to commemorate King George V’s Silver Jubilee, the K6 was a development of his earlier K2 design and was streamlined, more compact, and designed for mass production. Giles Gilbert Scott was a significant 20th-century British architect, known for works including Liverpool Cathedral and Battersea Power Station. These telephone kiosks represent a thoughtful adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological needs; over 70,000 K6s were produced before being gradually replaced in the 1960s.

The kiosk is situated on a grassy verge on the High Street in Rode, directly in front of Rode Baptist Church (Grade II). It has a strong visual relationship with the church and its forecourt wall, gate piers, and gate, as well as with the Grade II-listed building at 39 High Street, approximately 20 metres to the southwest.

The kiosk is designated at Grade II because of its strong visual relationship with two listed buildings and as a representative example of this important 20th-century industrial design within a village setting.