Public Telephone Boxes/Kiosks in Britain date back to the later part of the 1880’s. However, it was not until the early part of 1900’s before we began to see them introduced into the public domain.

The government office of the Postmaster-General started issuing to individual private companies enabling them to operate a telephone service to both business and residential customers alike.

It was not until towards the end of the nineteenth century that two companies emerged both with the own well established infrastructure and extensive telephone networks (The General Post Office GPO & The National Telephone Company).

Many designs have emerged over the years. Unfortunately, many of the iconic phone boxes we have all come to love have been replaced during the 1980’s to1990’s with the introduction of the KX range of steel framed glass alternatives.

The Telephone Box has become a familiar sight in Britain today. Known the world over the classic red telephone boxes have become an iconic symbol of Britain and British architecture, whether in the chocolate box village setting or the urban city centres.

Many of these slowly diminsishing British symbols have been given listed status, and it is imperative that we protect the few remaining working examples for the generations to come.

They were first introduced in the early 1920’s. A few years later a nationwide competition was launched to find a new design for the national telephone box.

The winning design was posted by none other than British architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. As a result the K2 was born in 1926.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott 1880 - 1960

Born in Hampstead (London), and the grandson of another notable architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78). Gilbert Scott was educated at Beaumont College (Windsor).

One of Britain's most successful architects, he was responsible for a large number of churches and public buildings. In Scotland, he designed St. Columba's Roman Catholic Cathedral in Oban (Argyll and Bute). He was also responsible for Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral, which is the largest cathedral in Britain, Battersea Power Station (London), Bankside Power Station, which is now the Tate Modern Art Gallery (also in London). Sir Giles Gilbert Scott is perhaps best known for that uniquely British symbol, the classic red telephone box.

Giles Gilbert Scott was knighted in 1924 after the consecration of the first section of Liverpool Cathedral. He died in University College Hospital (London) and was buried beside his cathedral in Liverpool.

Unfortunately, the K2 was seen as too large and far too costly to put into production. The GPO again looked for a new design and once again Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was commissioned to create a new design. So. In 1929 the K3 was introduced.

The K3 was a smaller version of the K2 previously designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The K3 design was an instant success and as a result there were over 12000-installed throughout the country.
Between 1927 through to 1934 further designs were introduced (K4 & K5), which were not successful. At this time the K3 was still to be found on our streets and still in large numbers. However, there were many issues arising from the K3 design and as a result the introduction of the first cast iron telephone box was introduced. In 1936 the K6 was born.

The K6 incorporated all the key successful features of the earlier designs all rolled into one. The new K6 with its solid structure and more compact design was an instant hit. Even though the K6 still suffered from the effects of vandalisim and further modifications were carried out creating a Mk2 generation which was officially introduced in 1939.

The K6 Mk1 & Mk2 was introduced extensively throughout the country and was to replace many of the previous designs. At the end of its production the K6 number around 70,000. The new boxes were not an instant hit with the general public, but over the years opinion changed.

In 1960 the GPO considered a new design by Nevill Conder, the K7.

Unfortunately, it was not be a hit and only a handful were produced for product testing. The K7 was never commissioned by the GPO. Once again in similar circumstances as before a national competition was launched in 1965 to find a new design to modernise the great british telephone box, and in 1965 a new name was to emerge. Bruce Martin, an architect was awarded with the his new design the K8. The K8 went into production in 1968.

The new K8 was quite a radical design compared to telephone boxes that went before it. The design removed the traditional glazed bar sections and instead the kiosk had a much more open spacious feel with all four sides being made up of large single windows. There was also the noticeable shift away from the traditional domed roof with the emergence of a flatter roof.

The new K8 did replace a number of the traditional K6’s with the introduction of some 4,000 throughout the country. Vandalism continued to be an ongoing problem that resulted in further modifications being made to the existing K6’s still on the streets. The changes made were in line with the K8 design of having no individual glazing, but instead a full piece of glass as an alternative. In the event of an area being a continual target for vandalism, the installation of a kiosk commonly known as a 7A was introduced in specific areas only.

This design was introduced in the early 1980’s and was very basic in design to help minimise the opportunity and discourage acts of severe vandalism. And as a result of its introduction in some of the most severe pockets of targeted vandalism proved a success.

As time moved on many varying designs came and went, but none would capsulate the nation quite like Sir Giles Gilbert Scott did. By the mid 1980’s BT announced that there was to be radical changes to the current telephone payphone street furniture, with an all-new and improved public telephone service. The KX design and range was introduced.

A varied selection of new designs was in the offering from the KX range. The range included KX100, KX200, KX300, KX410 & 420, of which the KX100 being the most popular of these still in circulation today.

The main purpose of the KX range was access for all. However, this was at the expense of the overall aesthetics. Towards the middle to late 1990’s, BT gave the most popular of the KX range (KX100) a mini face-lift. The revisions were limited to adding a red central bar around the unit itself and an attempt at replicating a domed roof much like the beloved K6.

The K6 was fast becoming a thing of the past on our streets with its replacement coming under heavy criticism from the general public.

There have been attempts since to re-introduce the K6 to various places within the UK, but this has unfortunately not been a massive success. In more recent years there have been a number of independent companies that have attempted to introduce their own design of kiosk to challenge the current mix, and with some success.

However, with these new additions and the steady rise in mobile telephony the public payphone service as a hole is fast becoming a second rate service with a rapidly falling customer base, and many being recovered.

Today some of the biggest users of the current payphone services in the UK are from foreign tourists and emergency calls made to Childline. Amongst the latest offerings BT has to offer are Broadband access, which can be found on their KX100 plus kiosks and ATM’s combined with a payphone.

Many attempts have been made over the years to design a modern kiosk that would be instantly recognisable the world over, but to this day nothing has come close to the original Sir Giles Gilbert Scott classic K6 design, which still remains one of the most rarest and sort after pieces of British payphone architecture still in existence.