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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Hi,
Here is my contribution to the Friday Theme of 3 in 1....well I like to be different, so mine is titled, 1 in 3, referring to the occupancy rate of these British Telecom kiosks outside the Market Tavern in the city of Durham.
In 1884, the British Postmaster-General, Henry Fawcett, allowed telephone companies to establish 'public call offices' - the first telephone boxes.It meant that the telephone was transformed from being just for the rich or businessmen to something accessible to all.
In the days of the National Telephone Company (NTC) there were few standard designs - telephone kiosks turned up as anything from ornate cast iron boxes to rustic style huts and arbours. Mainly, they were made of wood, with three patterns being particularly common: the Wilson, the Norwich and the Birmingham. When the Post Office took over the telephone system in 1912, they soon decided to have a standard design, based on the Birmingham - but then the First World War intervened. Some telephone boxes are so rare that they might almost be worth their weight in gold.
The K4 'Vermillion Giant' combined a K2 kiosk with stamp machines and letter box to form a '24-hour post office'. It was not a success - the thing was too big to fit on most sites and the stamps became damp. Only 50 were ever made.
Rarer still is the K5 'flat pack' kiosk of 1934 - a transportable knock down design made in steel faced plywood for use at fairs and exhibitions, It's thought some were made - but if any survived, they're very well hidden.
The K7 - Neville Conder's innovative design of the early 1960s - is also a spotter's delight. Six prototypes were produced in aluminium but didn't weather very well. So the Post Office commissioned a further six in cast iron - some of which may have gone to Glasgow. What has happened to them since remains a mystery. The first K1 Kiosk of 1921 was painted in a colour to suit its locations, such as brown or green. The later concrete K3s that followed it during the 1930s were almost all a cream colour, with red glazing bars.
Giles Gilbert Scott wanted his elegant K2 of 1926 to be painted silver, with a "bluey green" interior. But the Post Office chose to paint the cast iron box overall in red. It defined the style for the next 60 years.
Red telephone boxes were sometimes resisted in rural areas, but the Post Office was at first indifferent to complaints. After 1945, they agreed to reconsider and agreed that Dark Battleship Grey kiosks with red glazing bars could be used in places of outstanding natural beauty. Ironically, many of these grey boxes have since been repainted red as a more appropriate 'heritage' colour.
Graceful K2 and K6 kiosks rapidly began to disappear from Britain's streets and villages in the mid/late 1980s - sparking a fierce upsurge of protective affection for these old friends.
In the battle between preservationists and British Telecom, peace was brokered with the decision to protect 2,000 old style kiosks as 'listed buildings'. Many of these have been fully restored. There are hundreds of other 'classic' red kiosks still in service - not listed but not scrapped either.
The rest have been sold off - some for scrap - but most as complete units that have turned up as garden ornaments, club and restaurant centrepieces, shower cubicles - even as fish tanks.
And a few have even begun a new life as public telephone boxes. In 1993, BT began re-installing recycled K6 kiosks, starting with 60 in Westminster. Some have replaced more modern units - but many were installed in sensitive heritage sites where a telephone kiosk would otherwise be unacceptable. And, in a remarkable turn about, many are in places where they could never have been erected originally. For example, in London's Parliament Square, none of its four red kiosks were there before BT was privatised.
Info from Connected Earth.
Photo is very much as taken, with slight adjustment to levels and some litter cloned out, including the obligatory empty 'coke' bottle!
Thanks again for the themes, Helen,
Take care,
John |
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