Summary

A K6 telephone kiosk. The modern telecommunications inside are excluded from the listing.

Description

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. The kiosk appears intact. It has modern telecommunications equipment inside*. It stands on the main street through the village, at a road junction, in front of two listed buildings: The Cottage, approximately 15m to the north, and a pair of houses, Walsall Cottage and Clarktown Cottage, approximately 16m to the north-east, all listed at Grade II. In addition, it is co-visual with the tower of the village church, All Hallows (Listed Grade I) approximately 42m to the north-east, which rises behind Clarktown Cottage in line with the K6 kiosk. The telephone kiosk has a strong visual relationship with these three listed buildings collectively.

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

The K6 telephone kiosk is a milestone of C20 industrial design. The K6 was designed by Sir 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. Sir 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 Listing

The K6 telephone kiosk in Broadwoodkelly, situated in a conservation area, is listed at Grade II, for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: the K6 kiosk is recognised as an iconic design which is of intrinsic interest;
* Intactness: this kiosk remains intact;
* Group value: this telephone kiosk has a strong visual relationship with three listed buildings collectively, two of which it stands directly before.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677996

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)