The Red Box

The red phone box is considered an icon of the UK. It was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1924.
The London Metropolitan Boroughs opposed the Post Office telephone box (Kiosk N°1), which was designed in 1920 and made of concrete; therefore the Royal Fine Art Commission invited several architects and societies to submit their designs. Scott won the competition but his original design was slightly different, in fact the color of the box was not red but silver. Scott’s design was placed in service as Kiosk N°2 in the London area in 1926. A K3 cream design was also introduce by Scott for rural places a few years later.
In 1935 the K6 was designed to commemorate the silver jubilee of King George V. It became the first red telephone kiosk to be used extensively outside of London and around the UK. Some other models were designed after that, like Bruce Martin’s K8 in 1968.
BT, the Post Office Telephone’s successor used more utilitarian design and started to replace the boxes in the 70’s. Although in 1996, BT introduced a box that resemblances the K2 and K6 designs.
Pictures of the different phone boxes:


More pictures and the phone box history