K2 Telephone Box Prototype

The lowdown

Tucked beneath the entrance archway to the Royal Academy on Piccadilly stands the granddaddy of one of Britain's most iconic objects, the original 1924 prototype of the K2 telephone box designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. Unlike the cast-iron boxes that followed, this one is made of wood, painted a quieter shade, the design from which tens of thousands of red phone boxes descended.

Most visitors hurrying into the galleries pass it without a glance. It is free to see, a lovely piece of design history standing exactly where the winning entry was once displayed for judging, the ancestor of an enduring national symbol.