Today's topic is the Red Telephone Box (Kiosk), voted one of the top ten British favorite design icons since 1900 in 2006. I knew that there were several versions of the telephone box (note the omission of "red", because as I found out, telephone boxes weren't always that color). There are, in fact, seventeen versions of the telephone box and their story is fascinating. Rather than cut and paste just a few details, I'll direct you to this site, The Telephone Box, where you can read all about them.
My favorite is the K6, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the Coronation of George V in 1935. I'm not surprised to read that it is identified as Britain's red Telephone Box and 60,000 of them were installed across Britain with 11,000 of them remaining.
I found this beautiful example of the K6 on fellow blogger Judy's blog, Cranberry Morning, a number of years ago and asked her permission to use her photo. Surprise, surprise, this photo was taken in Kettlewell, my most favorite place on earth! Although Judy didn't spend very long in Kettlewell, she did snap some beautiful photos that took me right down memory lane when I saw them on her blog.
I'll leave you with this little tidbit - if you've got a spare $7000+ lying around, you can become the proud owner of a restored K6 red telephone box, complete with coin slots for pennies, shillings, and sixpences. Imagine that in your front or back garden!
What a great photo! The red phone boxes were one of my favorite sites in England. We certainly took lots of photos of them! I also loved the traditional mail boxes that could be found on the street.
ReplyDeleteI like the telephone booths almost as much as I do the red mail boxes.
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