K6 Telephone Kiosk on Price Street at the corner with Argyle Street, adjacent to Hamilton Square

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Overview

Telephone kiosk, Type K6. Designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Made by various contractors. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1463477
Date first listed:: 26-Mar-2019
List Entry Name:: K6 Telephone Kiosk on Price Street at the corner with Argyle Street, adjacent to Hamilton Square

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1463477
Date first listed:: 26-Mar-2019
List Entry Name:: K6 Telephone Kiosk on Price Street at the corner with Argyle Street, adjacent to Hamilton Square
Location Description:: K6 Telephone Kiosk on Price Street at junction with Argyle Street, adjacent to Hamilton Square, Birkenhead.

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Wirral (Metropolitan Authority)
Parish:: Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:: SJ3242888976

Summary

Telephone kiosk, Type K6. Designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Made by various contractors.

Reasons for Designation

The K6 telephone kiosk at the junction of Price Street and Argyle Street, adjacent to Hamilton Square, Birkenhead, 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 adaptation 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 proximity and visual relationship with the important civic space of Hamilton Square, enclosed by Grade I Victorian terraces and the Grade II* Town Hall, with central gardens containing listed statues and a Grade II* war memorial.

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 renowned English architects of the C20; 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 remain and continue to be an iconic feature of English streetscapes.

This K6 telephone kiosk is one of a pair of telephone kiosks originally positioned at an angle at the corner of Hamilton Street with Duncan Street, facing into Hamilton Square. The square is a civic space of outstanding architectural interest, enclosed by grand, Grade I, Victorian terraces of 1839 to 1844, designed by the Scottish architect, James Gillespie Graham (1776-1855), famous for his work in Edinburgh New Town, and an 1883, Grade II* Town Hall. The central gardens contain a Grade II* war memorial, a monument to Queen Victoria and a statue of John Laird, both Grade II. The telephone kiosks were both listed at Grade II in 1987. In 2018 they were relocated separately whilst retaining their visual relationship with Hamilton Square. This telephone kiosk was moved to the west corner of the square, at the junction of Price Street and Argyle Street; the other one was moved a short distance from its pre-existing location at the junction of Hamilton Street and Duncan Street.

Details

Telephone kiosk, Type K6. Designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Made by various contractors.

MATERIALS: cast-iron, glass.

DESCRIPTION: The K6 is a standardised design of cast-iron painted red comprising a square kiosk with a shallow domed roof. The door and sides each have eight horizontal strips of glass with narrow margin lights. Above, in the top panels, are rectangular white display signs reading TELEPHONE with applied relief crowns over. The telephone kiosk is complete, but with modernised internal equipment.

Sources

None.

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.