“Out of Order”, Kingston upon Thames, London, London, England

The Red Phone Box travels finally paid homage to the iconic red telephone boxes by visiting the art installation “Out of Order” in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. “Out of order” is created by artist David Mach in 1989.

I’ve been wanting to see these red telephone booths for ages so finally on my last trip to London (November 2022) I ventured outside Central London and discovered delightful Kingston upon Thames. After all, it’s an easy and short train ride from Central London and you can even use your oyster card, no need to pay for a different train ticket.

It was Monday morning and it was pouring rain! Nevertheless, the rain didn’t spoil my experience of Kingston upon Thames. “Out of Order” sculpture/art installation isn’t far away from the train station. It’s located right at the western end of Old London Road street. I’d seen many photos of these 12 telephone booths/boxes positioned like falling dominoes. But I must admit that I’d expected the street around them to look nicer. Also, even though I’d read that these red telephone boxes had been repainted and restored just a few years ago it seems that they need another restoration.

Of course, you can’t make a telephone call from these telephone booths. As the name says, they’re out of order! But I loved them! It’s just such a fun concept! I couldn’t find anywhere online why artist David Mach made this art installation. I guess he loved these red telephone boxes very much. It was Giles Gilbert Scott who designed the legendary K2 red telephone booth. Even though he was an architect and a church builder he’s perhaps most widely known as a designer of telephone booths. The red telephone booths in this art installation “Out of Order” must be K6 design. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).