Red Telephone Box. Icons of GB

The red telephone box, a public telephone kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, is a familiar sight on the streets of the United Kingdom, Malta and Gibraltar, and despite a reduction in their numbers in recent years, red boxes can still be seen in many places. The rainy British climate necessitates protection of callers from the elements. The colour red was chosen to make them easy to spot. Several of these distinctive telephone boxes have been installed on the Norman, Oklahoma campus of the University of Oklahoma, where they continue to serve their originally intended function. Elsewhere in the United States, a few have also been installed in downtown Glenview, Illinois. A red telephone box can also be found on the Courthouse Square in Oxford, Mississippi There is also a red telephone box in the student centre of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition, there is a red telephone box outside the town building (town hall/police station/post office) in the tiny mountain town of Rowe, Massachusetts, which is an original installation dating back to when the town of Rowe first got telephone service. Red telephone boxes are also found in villages in Malta and Gozo, showing that the colonial influence is still present. Some of telephone booths are being used as internet kiosks. Australia and New Zealand each had their own design of red telephone box, and some examples have been preserved in sensitive or historic sites. Telephone booths in Norway were also coloured red, and built to a standard design by architect Georg Fredrik Fasting from 1932.