Fairford K6 telephone kiosk

Summary

A K6 telephone kiosk located on the high street of a small town.

Reasons for Designation

The K6 telephone kiosk on the High Street, Fairford, Gloucestershire 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;
* Group value: it has group value and a strong visual relationship with The Police Station and Former Magistrate's Court (Grade II); Montague House (Grade II); 10, High Street (Grade II) and Fairford Community Centre (Grade II) and can be seen in the same view as the parish Church of St Mary (Grade I).

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 neoclassical 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 a new kiosk type. But many still remain, and continue to be an iconic feature on Britain's streetscapes.

Details

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 has lost its display signs on its N and S sides but retains its glass windows and original pattern of door.

The kiosk stands in Fairford conservation area, on the E side of the High Street in Fairford. It has a strong visual relationship with the Police Station and Former Magistrate's Court (Grade II), approximately 3.5 metres to the E, and Montague House (Grade II), approximately 15 metres to the NE, and 10 High Street (Grade II), 15 metres to the SE. It is also visually related to buildings on the western side of the high Street, including Fairford Community Centre (Grade II), approximately 19 metres to the W, and the Church of St Mary (Grade I), approximately 60 metres to the NW.

The telephone kiosk has a strong visual relationship with these five listed buildings collectively.

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