K8 kiosk at Chalfont and Latimer Station

Southbound Platform, Chalfont and Latimer Station, Little Chalfont, Amersham, HP6 6RZ

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

K8 telephone kiosk. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1484974
Date first listed:: 31-May-2023
List Entry Name:: K8 kiosk at Chalfont and Latimer Station
Statutory Address:: Southbound Platform, Chalfont and Latimer Station, Little Chalfont, Amersham, HP6 6RZ

Magenta painted phone kiosk — Uploaded by Graeme Wall This photo may not represent the current condition of the site
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II
List Entry Number:: 1484974
Date first listed:: 31-May-2023
List Entry Name:: K8 kiosk at Chalfont and Latimer Station
Statutory Address 1:: Southbound Platform, Chalfont and Latimer Station, Little Chalfont, Amersham, HP6 6RZ

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

Statutory Address:: Southbound Platform, Chalfont and Latimer Station, Little Chalfont, Amersham, HP6 6RZ

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

District:: Buckinghamshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Little Chalfont
National Grid Reference:: SU9964497565

Summary

K8 telephone kiosk.

Reasons for Designation

The K8 telephone kiosk at Chalfont and Latimer station is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: Architectural interest: * for Bruce Martin’s meticulously simplified and updated design, a classic work of C20 industrial design which is immediately recognisable as the post-war iteration of Scott’s earlier K2 and K6 kiosks;

* as a nationally rare survival of a once common telephone kiosk, first introduced in 1968.

Historic interest: * the K8 is the last generation of the red public telephone box, making an important contribution to the understanding of the historic development of the telecommunications industry in England before the introduction and subsequent widespread use of mobile phones;

* as an example of the K8’s adoption for internal use on the London Underground network.

Group value: * sited in the public realm on the station platform, it has group value with the unlisted station building with which its use is associated.

History

The K8 telephone kiosk was manufactured to a design by Bruce Martin, following a competition held by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1965.

The main requirement for the K8 in the GPO’s design brief was that it should be easy to re-assemble on site and easy to maintain and repair in the future. This condition was met by the use of cast iron and toughened glass. The brief also stated that the kiosk had to last for at least 50 years and be recognised as the next generation of telephone boxes in the UK, following on from it's predecessor, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's now iconic K6.

Martin analysed Scott’s K6 meticulously. He simplified and reduced its high number of components to ones which could be used flexibly to suit the site of the kiosk. The final design had only seven principal components. Martin’s K8 respected the dimensions and form of Scott’s kiosk but offered simplified, contemporary styling, avoiding the explicit neo-classical references of the earlier design. Two variations of the roof dome were made, a Mk 1 and a Mk 2, the latter generally adopted from 1976 in response to casting problems with the Mk 1. The Mk 1 had a cast lip framing the 'TELEPHONE' signs and the Mk 2 had a lip which ran over the top of the sign and continued around each corner of the dome. The K8 at Chalfont and Latimer has the Mk 2 dome. The kiosks were manufactured by the Lion Foundry Company Ltd and the Carron Manufacturing Company. Approximately 11,000 were installed throughout the UK between 1968 and 1983, when production ceased.

The role of some K8s on the London Underground differed from those elsewhere. They were intended for use by station staff and were inaccessible to the public. They housed London Underground internal telephony and were painted different colours in reference to their use and the type of equipment housed within. In later years they were painted to match the colour scheme of the station. These colours also distinguished the kiosks from other K8s, indicating that they were not for public use.

Bruce Martin (1917-2015) studied engineering at the University of Hong Kong before qualifying in architecture at the Architectural Association. He joined the Hertfordshire County Council architectural department and became part of the group that was responsible for the so-called 'Hertfordshire Experiment': a progressive approach to building primary schools using pioneering construction techniques, pre-fabricated buildings and child-centred design focus. Morgan’s Junior School in Hertford, designed by Martin, is listed at Grade II* (National Heritage List for England entry: 1119734).

Details

K8 telephone kiosk, produced to designs by Bruce Martin for the General Post Office from 1968. This example post-dates 1976.

MATERIALS: cast iron, aluminium and glass.

DESCRIPTION: the kiosk is painted maroon to match the station colours and the colour of the Metropolitan Line which it serves. It is square in plan and has six cast iron parts: a floor plate, a roof dome and four side panels. The panel to the rear is solid cast iron, the two adjoining panels each hold a large pane of toughened glass in a rectangular frame with rounded corners, and the fourth holds an aluminium door, glazed to match the side panels.

The roof dome is a Mk 2 design, having a continuous cast lip. It is flat on top and has softly squared corners. Each face carries round-cornered rectangular panes of toughened glass, the one over the door bearing the word ‘Telephone’.

The kiosk contains a station-to-station telephone and an in-station autophone.

The kiosk stands on platform 2 for southbound services.

Sources

Books and journals
British Telecom, , Britain's Public Payphones - A Social History, (1984)
Johannessen, N, Telephone Boxes, (1994)
Linge, Nigel, Sutton, Andy, The British Phonebox, (2017)
Stamp, G, Telephone Boxes, (1989)
Linge, N, Sutton, A, Hurley, A, Johannessen, N, 'In Celebration of the K8 Telephone Kiosk - Britain's Last Red, Cast-Iron Phonebox' in Industrial Archaeology Review, , Vol. 42, (21 October 2020), pp. 141-153
'New Kiosk for 1968 - and 2018!' in Post Office Magazine, (August 1966), pp. 5-6
'The smallest building: The genesis of the Mark 8 telephone box' in RIBA Journal, (August 1969), pp. 320-325

Legal

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

The listed building is shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building but not coloured blue on the map, are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act. However, any works to these structures which have the potential to affect the character of the listed building as a building of special architectural or historic interest may still require Listed Building Consent (LBC) and this is a matter for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to determine.