pay phone story

Payphone Story – Global History of Payphones and Phone Booths

001 North American Payphones
027 South African Payphones
030 European Payphones
044 British Payphones and Booths
- 044 BRITISH PAYPHONES
- BRITISH PHONE BOXES
061 Australasian Payphones
081 Japanese Payphones
886 Taiwan Payphones
HOME- PAYPHONESTORY
Site Map

Danish Phone Booth- KTAS Green Telephone Booth, 1935

Denmark’s green telephone booth was introduced in 1935. Designed by architect Jens Ingwersen for KTAS, it featured extensive glazing, frosted glass for privacy, steel shelves and prominent TELEFON signs. It became common in Copenhagen and larger provincial towns. No production total is recorded; Denmark’s last public booth disappeared in 2017.

Name	KTAS Green Telephone Booth
Date	Denmark, c.1935 – 2020
Manufacturer	designed by Danish architect Jens Ingwersen for KTAS, the Copenhagen Telephone Company (Kjøbenhavns Telefon Aktieselskab).

KTAS Green Telephone Booth, 1935

Denmark’s distinctive green telephone booth was introduced in 1935 and designed by Danish architect Jens Ingwersen for KTAS, the Copenhagen Telephone Company (Kjøbenhavns Telefon Aktieselskab).

The booth was constructed from painted steel, with extensive glazing and prominent TELEFON signs. Its restrained rectangular form reflected the functional modern architectural style of the 1930s. Frosted glass gave callers some privacy, while practical steel shelves inside supported the telephone and coin box and provided space for telephone directories, parcels or a handbag.

Denmark’s first public telephone booth providing round-the-clock access had opened in 1931. Ingwersen’s improved green design followed four years later and became extremely popular. Green booths soon appeared throughout Copenhagen and in the larger Danish provincial towns, becoming a familiar feature of the national streetscape.

The Nyvang history does not provide a production total for this particular model. Across Denmark, however, approximately 3,000 public telephone booths of various designs remained in 2007. This fell to only 500 by 2009 as mobile phones replaced them. Denmark’s final operational public telephone booth was removed from Lilletorv in Aarhus on 13 April 2017. Oplevelsescenter Nyvang