M@

London's Phone Boxes Find Many Odd Uses

Libraries, ATMs, shrines, shrubberies... the iconic red phone box is finding any number of alternative uses in the age of the mobile.

The distinctive red kiosks, first designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1920s, have also been co-opted for various art projects over the years.

We've rounded up a few creative examples, and we'd love to hear about further examples in the comments.

The Royal Academy has London's oldest red phone box, seen here (it's the one without the beard).

The Lewisham Micro Library is contained inside an old K2 phone box. Find it on the corner of Loampit Hill and Tyrwhitt Road.

These tumbledown phone boxes are the work of artist David Mach, and have resided in Kingston since 1988.

80 replica phone boxes were painted with different designs by artists and celebrities in 2012, to raise money for Childline. Here's a patriotic box in Mayfair.

A number of sawn-up phone box installations could be viewed in the Olympic Park during the 2012 games.

Beside Archway tube station, this old box contains a miniature garden of hanging baskets and pot plants.

The British Postal Museum Store in Debden runs frequent open days. Here you'll find a number of unusual phone boxes, including this old experimental box that also dispensed stamps.

Giles Gilbert Scott supposedly based his design for the K2 phone box on the mausoleum of Sir John Soane (he of his own museum fame), which can be found in Old St Pancras cemetery.

Several defunct phone boxes have been converted into cash machines. This one, above, is in Borough Market.

Above is a phone box shrine to Sherlock Holmes. The memorial was established spontaneously by fans close to the spot where the detective fell to his apparent death outside St Bart's in the BBC's Sherlock series.

All images by M@, except the first picture, which is from our 60-second video on phone box art.

See also: Do you know where you can find London's largest stockpile of 'tart cards' collected from London phone boxes?