Description

Designed by Gilbert MacKenzie Trench, 1928. Constructed circa 1935. Regularly panelled, square-plan, reinforced concrete police box. Chamfered base. Shallow pyramidal roof with three-stepped courses. Entrance with cast iron door and communication hatch within square panel to left. Six-pane fixed glazing to upper panels. Block frieze and tablet with 'POLICE' sign.

Statement of Interest

The Cathedral Square police box is particularly rare. It is one of only four surviving listed examples on the streets of Glasgow, understood to be some of the last of thousands that were originally installed on the streets of Britain between 1932 and 1938. Prominently located at the northeast corner of Cathedral Square opposite Glasgow Cathedral, the box is a distinctive landmark and an integral part of the streetscape. It contributes to our understanding of social history and also serves as a reminder of the advances made in police communications during the early to mid-20th century. Glasgow had the highest ratio of boxes to police officers in the UK. 323 police boxes were constructed in the city between 1932 and 1938. Gilbert Mackenzie Trench (1885-1979), was principal Architect and Surveyor to the Metropolitan Police. His design, drawing references from the Classical tradition, is simple, functional and refined. Each box was intended to serve as a 'miniature police station' for officers on the beat with telephone, incident book, fire extinguisher and first-aid kit inside. The instantly recognisable box also acted as a focal point where the public could make enquiries and obtain assistance in cases of urgency. The official objectives of the Police Box system included 'communicating information to or from the station' and 'preparing reports on occurrences'. The Glasgow boxes were painted red until the late 1960s, after which they were sometimes painted blue like their English counterparts. This type of police box is also internationally recognized through its pop-cultural association with the TARDIS from the BBC television programme Dr Who. The BBC successfully registered the design of the box as a trademark in 2002, in the face of opposition from the Metropolitan Police. The original roof-mounted lamp housing is currently missing from the Cathedral Square box. The three further listed police boxes are located at Buchanan Street (LB32825), Wilson Street (LB32803) and Great Western Road (LB32515) - see separate listings.

Listed building record updated (2023) with information about listed examples in Glasgow.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17813744

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)