Telephone Boxes

Telephone Boxes

Some of the first telephone boxes to grace Dublin’s streets. Installation was in preparation for the thousands of people who descended on the capital from all over Ireland, and from all over the world, for the 31st International Eucharistic Congress in June 1932.

Would love to hear from anyone with more information on telephone boxes in Ireland. According to the excellent Come Here To Me! blog, Dublin’s first telephone kiosk appeared in May 1925.

Thanks very much to woodworker_34 who worked out that these boxes were being installed outside the old Ballast House on O’Connell Bridge. You can actually see them in this 1932 British Pathé newsreel footage: A Million People Kneel in Prayer, at 2:00 to 2:03 mark.

Date: Spring 1932

NLI Ref.: IND_H_1860

23 thoughts on “Telephone Boxes

  1. Intermedio, ciao Christine
    Intermedio, ciao Christine says:

    Great historic testimony! Thanks!

  2. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/morimai] You’re welcome!

  3. oaktree_brian_1976
    oaktree_brian_1976 says:

    Which one is Clark Kent?

  4. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] He’s already gone! That’s his overcoat on the railings – it didn’t go with his cloak and tights ensemble…

  5. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/morris_oxford_v] Would assume so. And then pull out the pegs that you can see underneath?

  6. tammybeck

    got any idea as to the location in the photo?

  7. RETRO STU

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/47290943@N03] Phone boxes were first introduced to the streets of Dublin in 1925 and quickly spread out across the county over the following decades. I think the type pictured above were made of reinforced cast-concrete.

  8. Niall McAuley
    Niall McAuley says:

    There’s a picture of a phone box of this type here, including the Gaelic font P&T symbol.

  9. RETRO STU

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/58894288@N07] There’s a nice pic of the very first type of Irish phonebox in Dawson Street, your web-link. Strange that I never noticed it before and will be sure to have a look next time I’m in that part of Dublin. All the best. Stuart.

  10. blackpoolbeach
    blackpoolbeach says:

    http://www.britishtelephones.com/histuk.htm
    Before the telephone kiosk there was the public call office.
    1884 – "They were at first located in ‘silence cabinets’ found in shops, railway stations and other public places."
    1922 – "The telephone system in Southern Ireland was transferred to the Eireann Administration (then the Irish Free State); 194 telephone exchanges with 19,037 lines and 553 call offices passed into the control of the new administration."
    There is a humorous website about Irish phone boxes.
    http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/ALandmks/PhoneBoxes.html

  11. swordscookie I'm back
    swordscookie I'm back says:

    I think that that’s in Upper Abbey Street close to where the Irish Life Centre is today?

  12. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/tammybeck] No idea!

  13. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/swordscookie] Had a look on Abbey Street. There are railings, but not the right kind of pillars behind them…

  14. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/morris_oxford_v] Cream and green were the classic colours alright.

  15. oaktree_brian_1976
    oaktree_brian_1976 says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland] haha, or Clark O’Kent I suppose 🙂

  16. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/66151649@N02] No, Clarke Kent 🙂

  17. blackpoolbeach
    blackpoolbeach says:

    The latest Irish telephone directory online from Ancestry is 1921 Belfast/Dublin/Cork.
    You have to be logged in to view.
    search.ancestry.co.uk/Browse/View.aspx?dbid=1025&path…
    Dublin and Cork Districts begin at image 310
    Dublin District Manager was at Crown Alley & Temple Bar.
    Are any later Irish phone directories online?
    The 1932 directory would mention where the new-fangled telephone boxes were.

  18. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    [http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackpoolbeach] Would it mention locations of the boxes in the 1932 directory? We have a fairly complete set of phone directories here at Library Towers…

  19. blackpoolbeach
    blackpoolbeach says:

    We can only hope that there was an article in the directory about the new service.
    The photo is from the Independent newspaper archive, so it should be on microfilm.
    http://www.nli.ie/en/newspapers-newsplan-project.aspx
    Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack…

  20. Jnang

    One still stands in Foxrock Village, Dublin 18. Its classed as a listed building.

  21. Niall McAuley
    Niall McAuley says:

    Here’s the Foxrock box in Streetview. I have learned from the Emancipation Centenary thread that it is called a K1 box.

  22. National Library of Ireland on The Commons
    National Library of Ireland on The Commons says:

    Thanks [http://www.flickr.com/photos/jnang] for the info, and [http://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] for the Streetview. Glad you’re learning things!

    Thinking of starting a quickfire Flickr quiz every Friday to check that you’re all paying attention! 😀

  23. Aine P

    Some of those are still hanging around!

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