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The Telephone Box becomes a Museum Piece

by Dorte Fogh

The era of the telephone box is running out. The widespread use of mobile phones means that in many places earnings are insufficient to make mounting and maintenance worth while. A well-known piece of street furniture is disappearing rapidly – sent to the breaker’s and to the museum.


The few existing specimens of Copenhagen’s first telephone kiosks from 1896 are being well protected. They are being preserved and restored and filled with new functions. The impressive buildings were designed by Fritz Koch (1857-1905), who was an architect for KTAS. He embellished them in the style of the epoch with a preference for many beautiful and funny details.

In the 1930’s, time had come for a new model and mounting of more boxes. People wanted to have access to a telephone all the 24 hours. Another architect of KTAS, Jens Ingwersen (1871-1956), who had been collaborating with Fritz Koch until his death, designed a successor in the unpretentious style of the time. The telephone closet as it was called in those days should be used both in Copenhagen and in the suburban municipalities. The municipal architect demanded a certain height and the use of the same type of panes as in the city’s new newspaper kiosks. Finally, in 1935, KTAS were allowed to erect 350 telephone boxes in Copenhagen.

The small classic building with pitched roof and clear display of sign became popular. The frosted-glass panes secured the user some privacy, and the practical steel shelves with telephone and coin box had room for telephone directories and a handbag.

In 1977, Ingwersen’s telephone box became the target of a bomber. The doors were therefore removed and development of a new model commenced. The result was the beloved and detested "Question Mark".

Already in the early 1960’es a modern version of Jens Ingwersen’s telephone box was produced by Kristian Kirk’s Telephone Factories in Horsens. The simplified version had two large panes of clear glass on each of its four sides. We see it again in the painting "Telephone Box, an evening in June 1996" by Roelof de Roo. The motif is from Durup north of Skive, and it makes an impression on us because everything is so quiet and deserted. The picture seems to say that despite the possibility of getting in contact with others, modern man lives in self-elected solitude and isolation. The artist’s gloomy message is, however, somewhat contradicted by the nation’s intense use of mobile phones…

In Post & Tele Museum it is now possible to see four telephone boxes again – from Ingwersen’s fine classic to the latest Tele Danmark model.


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