Summary
K6 telephone kiosk, designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
Description
K6 telephone kiosk, designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.
The K6 is a standardised design made of cast-iron, painted red overall with long horizontal glazing in the doors 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 situated on the eastern side of a minor road, against the west elevation of the reading room, on the south-eastern approach to the centre of the village of Dent. There are three Grade II-listed buildings in the vicinity: The Old Vicarage and The Old Parsonage (National Heritage List for England (NHLE) 1384000), approximately 53m to the west by south-west, Siege Ghyll (NHLE 1383987) approximately 14m to the south-west, and the Old Post Office and adjoining barn (NHLE 1383984), approximately 21m to the north-west. 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 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 remaining examples of the K6 continue to be an iconic feature on Britain's streetscapes.
Reasons for Listing
The K6 Telephone Kiosk at Dent is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as an iconic example of industrial design, showing Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's adaption of neoclassical forms for a modern technological function.
Historic interest:
* the K6 telephone kiosk was designed to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935 by the eminent architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, further developing his successful K2 telephone kiosk design of 1924.
Group value:
for its contribution to the streetscape and its strong visual relationship with the listed The Old Vicarage and The Old Parsonage, Siege Ghyll, and the Old Post Office and adjoining barn (all listed at Grade II), and for its particular contextual relationship with the latter.
External Links
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
Period Property Manual (New Ed)
London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
[(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
Hampshire: Winchester and the North (The Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)