K6 Telephone Kiosk

Reasons for Designation

The K6 telephone kiosk in Albury is designated at Grade II for the following principal reason:
* It has group value with two listed buildings of the mid C19 on the same street, which were built when Albury was an estate village.

Details

431/0/10042
23-MAR-09

ALBURY
ALBURY STREET
K6 Telephone Kiosk


GV
II

K6 telephone kiosk, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott 1935. Three sides have wide, horizontal glass panels with narrow margin lights to each, the fourth side is solid.

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. It is in good condition with the exception of a small amount of flaking paint on one side.

It stands on a grass verge at the side of the road, within the Albury Conservation Area. There are two grade II listed buildings in the vicinity of the kiosk - Weston Dene, a Gothic style house of c1860, and a row of former shops (now houses) of mid-C19 date in a vernacular tradition with tall chimneys - both are significant to Albury's evolution as an estate village. The kiosk is not immediately opposite the listed buildings, but they are all on the same street and there is a clear visual relationship.

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

The village of Albury was originally located slightly to the east of its present site. It was moved in the late C18 while Captain Finch was expanding his estate of Albury Park. Albury village took over the site of the hamlet of Weston Street. During the early-mid C19, the successor of Albury Park, Henry Drummond, consequently moulded Albury into an informal estate village. Most of the architecture on The Street, which is where the kiosk is located, relates to Drummond's mid C19 redevelopment.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The K6 telephone kiosk in Albury is designated at Grade II for the following principal reason:
* It has group value with two listed buildings of the mid C19 on the same street, which were built when Albury was an estate village.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

505278

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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