Pair of K6 Telephone Kiosks Flanking Side Entrance Piers and Gates London, England

Text courtesy of Historic England. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

798-1/0/10392 MONTAGUE STREET 01-FEB-11 Bloomsbury (West side) Pair of K6 telephone kiosks flanking s ide entrance piers and gates

II Pair of K6 telephone kiosks. Materials: cast iron and glass (except where later modified).

DESCRIPTION: The K6 is a standardised design made of cast iron, painted red overall with long horizontal glazing in the door and sides and with the crowns situated on the top panels being applied not perforated. Both kiosks have rectangular white display signs, reading TELEPHONE beneath the shallow-curved roof. They have modernised internal equipment.

This pair of K6 telephone kiosks flanks entrance piers and gates to the British Museum's eastern facade on Montague Street. On the opposite side of Montague Street are Nos. 12-19 (listed Grade II) and the iron gates between Nos. 20 and 21 (also listed Grade II). No. 30 (listed Grade II), is adjacent to the K6 telephone kiosks on the west side of Montague Street, 30m to the north. The British Museum is listed Grade I.

HISTORY: The K6 telephone kiosk is a milestone of C20 industrial design. The K6 telephone kiosk was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 for the General Post Office on the occasion of King George V's Silver Jubilee. The design was a development from Scott's earlier K2 telephone kiosk of 1924, of Neo-classical inspiration. The K6 design was more compact and streamlined aesthetically, and more cost-effective to produce. Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) is one of the most significant modern British architects, whose many celebrated commissions include the Anglican cathedral at Liverpool and Battersea Power Station. The K2 and K6 telephone kiosk designs can be said to represent a very thoughtful adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological requirements. Well over 10,000 K6s were eventually produced and installed. Although many were replaced with far plainer kiosk types in the 1960s, and large numbers have been removed altogether since then, the K2 and K6 kiosks have become iconic features in Britain's streetscapes.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: The pair of K6 telephone kiosks, flanking side entrance piers and gates, on the west side of Montague Street are designated at Grade II for the principal following reasons: Special design interest: designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935, the K6 is a major landmark of industrial design. Group value: this pair of telephone kiosks stand on the eastern side of the British Museum, a Grade I listed building, and have a strong visual relationship with three additional listed buildings.