French PHONE BOOTH- Cabine La Parisienne

French PHONE BOOTH- Cabine La Parisienne

The Habitacle La Parisienne was an elegant French telephone booth introduced in 1975 following its adoption by the City of Paris. Combining aluminium framing with extensive safety glass, it modernised French public telephony with a lighter, more transparent design. Later versions evolved into the famous “type PARIS” booths used until the 2000s.

Name	Cabine La Parisienne
Date	1955-2015
Manufacturer	PTT / France Telecom

Development of the Cabine La Parisienne

The Habitacle La Parisienne was one of the most iconic French public telephone booths of the late twentieth century and represented a major shift in the architectural language of public telephony in France. Developed during the mid-1970s and formally adopted by the City of Paris following the exhibition of a prototype at Place Baudoyer in February 1975, the design reflected contemporary French ideals of modernity, transparency, and urban elegance. Unlike the heavier and more enclosed booths of earlier decades, La Parisienne embraced aluminium framing and extensive glazing to create a lighter and more sophisticated presence within the streetscape.

Most examples of the original booth were fitted with a single-leaf glass door framed in aluminium profiles. Constructed with substantial safety glazing and weighing approximately 240 kilograms, the structure was nevertheless engineered to appear visually delicate and refined. The transparent walls improved visibility and personal safety while allowing the booth to integrate more harmoniously into the historic urban fabric of Paris and other French cities. The design represented an important transition away from the older enclosed “cabine” tradition toward a more open and architecturally integrated form of street furniture.

The booth was initially catalogued under PTT reference 277.0011 before later variants were designated Type A and Type B under updated references, reflecting changes in construction materials and technical refinements. During subsequent decades the design evolved further. Renamed the type PARIS, later versions introduced double-leaf doors with aluminium framing, followed eventually by fully glazed double doors on the final production models manufactured into the early 2000s. These later iterations maintained the essential visual identity of the original while adapting to changing operational and maintenance requirements.

The Habitacle La Parisienne became one of the defining visual symbols of the French public telephone network. Elegant yet robust, modern yet understated, it demonstrated the uniquely French belief that even everyday infrastructure should contribute positively to the beauty and dignity of public urban space.

Above: Prototype of the Paris-model telephone booth exhibited from 13 to 17 February 1975 at Place Baudoyer in Paris, following its adoption by the City of Paris. Source- Orange-DANP collection. More information on the images- https://www.publiphonie.fr/page-562f584bb7200.html

For more images see the excellent page- https://www.publiphonie.fr/page-562f584bb7200.html