Building record 3340/0/17 - K6 telephone box, Castle Ashby Road

A K6 cast iron telephone kiosk with domical roof, painted red. There are relief crowns in the segmental upper sections on each side. Below the crowns there are glazed panels bearing the word 'TELEPHONE' on three sides; the fourth one, at the front, is missing. The door and two sides are glazed, each having eight horizontal strips of glass with narrow margin lights. The K6 was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. The telephone box was assessed for listing in 2008 but failed to meet the required criteria.

{1} The first standardised telephone kiosks, known as the K1, were designed in 1921. In 1924 the Postmaster General held a competition to find a better design. The product was the K2, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, architect of Battersea Power Station and Liverpool Cathedral. His Neoclassical design, influenced by the work of the Regency architect Sir John Soane, consisted of a cast iron cubicle with a domical roof. A perforated crown (symbol of the General Post Office) was set within the upper panels on each side. Subsequent versions were variations on this theme. The most common survivor is the K6, designed by Scott in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. This version was smaller than the K2 and generally painted red, with the crowns applied in relief rather than perforated. It had eight strips of glass with narrow margin lights on each side, whereas the K2 had 6 x 3 panes on each side.

A cast iron telephone kiosk with domical roof, painted red. There are relief crowns in the segmental upper sections on each side. Below the crowns there are glazed panels bearing the word 'TELEPHONE' on three sides; the fourth one, at the front, is missing. The door and two sides are glazed, each having eight horizontal strips of glass with narrow margin lights.

K6 telephone kiosks are iconic national objects, and they often contribute to the appreciation of places. However, as thousands of them survive, careful selection is necessary to ensure that the best examples are put forward for listing. Revised criteria for the listing of K6 telephone kiosks were agreed with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in May 2006, following discussions with BT. To be worthy of designation, 'a kiosk needs to have a strong visual relationship with more than one listed building'. There should be 'a directly adjacent location in which both the kiosk and listed buildings can be taken in simultaneously by the viewer'. The kiosks should also be 'in as near their original configuration as possible'.

Yardley Hastings is a large and sprawling village. The K6 phone kiosk is located off a triangular junction known as The Square, in the Conservation Area. There are two grade II listed buildings in the proximity of the kiosk, to the north: the former manse at 1 Castle Ashby Road (early 19th century), and the United Reform Church (1813). Unfortunately these are largely obscured from view, even in winter, by the high stone wall and dense shrubbery of the manse garden. The kiosk has a visual link with the south gable end of the manse; at best it could be said to have a strong visual relationship with the manse, but not with the church. Further to the north there is another grade II listed building, 11 Castle Ashby Road, but it is too far away to have a strong visual relationship with the kiosk. There are no listed buildings in The Square to the south, and opposite the kiosk there is a modern school. The location of the kiosk therefore does not fulfil the criteria for designation. It has also lost the most visually-prominent of its 'telephone' signs.
The K6 telephone kiosk in Yardley Hastings is not recommended for designation, for the following principal reasons:
* Although it is in the proximity of two grade II listed buildings, it does not have a strong visual relationship with both of them, and therefore does not fulfil the criteria for group value.
* It has lost the most visually-prominent of its 'telephone' signs.

<1> ENGISH HERITAGE, English Heritage Listing File, Heritage Protection Adviser, 23rd December 2008 (Report). SNN111579.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:19PM