Red Telephone Box

The red telephone box was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. In 1924, the Royal Fine Art Commission organised a competition to redesign the concrete K1 telephone boxes which had first appeared in 1921- the London Metropolitan Boroughs had previously refused to erect any K1 kiosks owing to their unappealing design.

Scott was ultimately successful and the first K2 kiosks appeared in 1924. Scott had been appointed as Director of the Sir John Soane museum at the same time as he was working on designs for the telephone box. There has been much speculation that he based the design on the tomb that Soane designed for his wife (pictured). Gavin Stamp disagreed, writing:

‘a dome above segmental curves is, in fact, a logical solution to the geometrical problem of designing a sculptural termination to a square pillar when a flat top is not suitable’

Scott went on to design five other versions of the phone box, culminating with the K6 kiosk in 1935.

References:

Stamp G, Telephone Boxes (Chatto & Windus, 1989), pp.9-10