After the General Post Office took over the multitude of telephone companies in the United Kingdom they decided to standardise the design of public telephone boxes. The first design of phone box was the Kiosk No.1 made of cast concrete with a wooden door. There were around 4500 boxes made, but by its centenary in 2020 only 17 are thought to have survived, mostly in museums.
This is the Mark 235, the second variation of the original Mark 234 kiosk design, having metal framed windows instead of the original wooden frames. This phonebox is part of the BT National Phone Box Collection housed at Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove in Worcestershire.
This is the third and final variation in design of the Kiosk No.1, circa 1927. This Mark 236 design has full length windows on two sides and in the door. The original sloping roof with an orb (ball) on top was replaced with a fancy wrought iron scrollwork over the top of the TELEPHONE sign. This example at Avoncroft Museum is painted in the then standardised colours of red glazing and door, with the concrete frame painted cream.
