pay phone story

Name	Circular Concrete (“Pipe”) Kiosk
Date	c. 1938
Manufacturer	NZ PO
Links	Concrete kiosk in Australia Concrete kiosk in South Africa For some reason the South African ones were much cuter and popular and a number have survived.

NZ Payphonebooth- Circular Concrete (“Pipe”) Kiosk

The final design shown in the 1938 drawing was the Circular Concrete Kiosk, commonly known as the Pipe Kiosk. Constructed from reinforced concrete with a curved sliding door, the door runners were deliberately inclined so that the door automatically closed after use. While durable, these kiosks were extremely heavy and difficult to clean and repair if struck by vehicles, which probably contributed to their eventual disappearance. Former Post Office staff recalled that the self-closing doors could bang loudly throughout the night, while children often found them difficult to open. By the 1960s they had largely disappeared from service, with only abandoned examples remaining in Post Office depots.

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