Old Phone boxes??

It entirely depends on the setting,

In heritage areas particularly small provincial towns, the old ones you speak of look best, but they are much more expensive to maintain due to the presence of multiple smaller components.

In City Centres the new ones look best and are easier to repair from the constant vandalism.

But as time goes on one can expect to see more of them removed and not replaced, in California AT&T removed nearly all public phones a couple of years ago.

The real pity is that many of them wern’t listed for preservation 30 years ago.

Originally posted by Lorcan
Just wondering what people thought/think of the really old blue and white telecom eireann phone boxes. walking aroiund in cork the other day and noticed a few lying in a scrap heap. if the were totally refitted maybe they could be brought back, possibly to the old parts of a city, ie english market area (cork 2005?). i prefer them to the new glass ones, though these ones do look good down patrick street i must say.

The old phone booths on Oliver Plunkett Street (near the GPO) are currently being refurbished and will feature as part of the street furniture in the not too distant future.

BTW, have they started redeveloping Winthrop Street yet?

That’s very weird – I passed a scrapyard only today that had one of these boxes and thought the same thing. They are definitely worthy of preservation. Even if they are no longer needed, there is no reason why their doors cannot be sealed and they be maintained by communities in a manner similar to parish pumps etc.

Do they date from the 50s or earlier? Some have a 30s feel to them. Does anyone know what the booth on Dawson St was used for originally and when it dates from – I think I heard it was once used as a fire alert station or something.

The booth that presently stands on Dawson Street originally stood to the left of the old Kingsbridge (now the Luas crossing) on Parkgate Street as one went north over the bridge from south. It stood on Parkgate Street well before the 60s. London has managed to preserve its old boxes within the Westminister area and also a number of real London buses- I suppose different strokes for different folks.

That’s interesting, thanks. It’s just it stands out, being what appears to be the only old booth left on the city’s main streets.

It’s always great to see the blue and white ones pop up in the most unlikely places in rural areas too, they’re a distinctive part of the Irish built heritage and worthy of protection – esp considering how few are left.