![]() ![]() The Jubilee Design proved a success and became by far the most populous type of kiosk (thanks also to reforms in how the Post Office budgeted for phone boxes in smaller towns and villages). Note how one of them is being used as a pint-sized office. Royal legacy A trio of Jubilee phone boxes in Greenwich. It's telling that we don't find kiosks with mirrors inside today. It seems to have worked to a degree, though this was hardly the end of phone box vandalism. The inclusion of a shelf and mirror helped to cut this practice, by providing a horizontal surface on which to take notes and a reflection to discourage naughty behaviour. Earlier kiosks were prone to vandalism, with callers idly scrawling on the walls while waiting for their call to be connected. It had been installed as a psychological experiment. ![]() The mirror, incidentally, was not primarily "for the ladies". The notices, too, are in clear modern type, and there is a small looking-glass for the ladies." (Western Morning News, 18 September 1936, via British Newspaper Archives) A special recess is provided for parcels and another for the directories, while there is an umbrella hook and an ashtray provided. ".much more 'roomy' and better ventilated than those now in use, and the instrument panel is most tastefully finished with black and chromium fittings. A press account from the time gives a neat summary of the changes. Inside, the Jubilee Design offered a 'de luxe' experience. The Jubilee Design needed something a bit more regal than perforations. ![]() They were a fair bit shorter and lighter the window patterns differed (see photos above), and the solid gold-coloured crown decorated the roof section, where previously the crown was picked out in ventilation holes. The boxes were outwardly similar to their predecessors, but with three major differences. The roof structures also bear crowns in relief, here painted gold but sometimes red. Note how the windows are not divided into even squares as in the K2. A quartet of Jubilee-style (K6) phone boxes in Enfield. The new phone box, known today as K6, was initially called the Jubilee Design, as its announcement coincided with George V's 25th year on the throne. Giles Gilbert Scott was back to improve upon his earlier masterpiece. But it was in the jubilee year that the winning solution was found. Various lighter alternatives were trialled and produced. The K2 proved popular, but was expensive and cumbersome to install outside large towns and cities. Note the even grid of windows and the perforated crown in the roof - two easy ways to distinguish this older model. (Soane's tower on Dulwich Picture Gallery is another contender.) Older-style K2 phone boxes near Drury Lane. His iconic phone box was reputedly inspired by the tomb of architect John Soane in Old St Pancras Cemetery. The K2 was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also gave us Waterloo Bridge, Bankside Power Station (now Tate Modern) and Battersea Power Station. See our graphic showing the evolution of the phone box. These were soon superseded by the first true 'red phone box' (the K2), many of which can still be found around London today. The earliest, known as the 'K1', was introduced in 1921. London's had phone boxes for more than 100 years. To celebrate his Silver Jubilee in 1935, thousands of Jubilee Design phone kiosks were rolled out across Britain. Her granddad, George V, left a very different legacy. ![]()
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