Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Real New York Subway Tile

One of the things that fascinated me while we were in New York last month was the tile work in the subway stations.  Real "in-the-subway" subway tile showed exactly how those little 3 x 6 white tiles got their name.  Just for the record, there are also 4 x 4 and 6 x 6 square tiles, as well as fantastic, colorful mosaics.





As I sat there on the train, accidentally going to Brooklyn because the stop we needed on the R train wasn't active on the weekend schedule, I had a lot of time to ponder and appreciate the artistry of the borders and station signs that were worked into colorful mosaics.





I was most thrilled to see a real, live subway outside corner executed exactly the way I devised while I was laying tile for the outside corner in our kitchen backsplash.  I can't tell you how many hours I must have spent in the planning process, googling and surfing to find any sort of image or photo of a subway tile outside corner that didn't use 2 x 6 border tiles.  I finally just jumped in and made it up as I went along, weaving the corner using tiles that had a bullnose on the short edge.  

My kitchen tile project, in process.


Here is an example of the corners that I found in the NY subway ... executed exactly the way I did it in our kitchen!  I almost did a little happy dance right there on the platform when I saw it.





Want to know more about New York's subway mosaics?  I found THIS web site, and it's fascinating!

To help other people who may be stuck in my same tiling situation, scratching their heads trying to figure out how to tile an outside corner with subway tile, I created a photo tutorial to show how I did it.  (Click HERE to go to the tutorial)  It is one of my most popular posts, getting hits from Google every week, so I guess there was a definite need.

12 comments:

  1. I love the subway tiles and mosaics in the NYC subways, they are really beautiful. I find trying to figure out the subway lines there confusing too. My daughter is in Brooklyn and I only take a direct line into the city when I'm visiting! Hope you had a good time, Laura

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  2. Oh those are really pretty! I'm going to check out the site you linked! Cool!

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  3. i have always found the NYC subway tile work amazingly beautiful. I am glad you took the time to take pictures. You are incredibly patient and resourceful. I don't think I can figure out how to lay the tiles on my own (if I even have the patience to lay the tiles in the first place!)

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  4. Your determination and hard work yielded success. Great job!

    Thank you for sharing your subway photos. The tile work is beautiful. I have never seen it.

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  5. Very cool! I like how you focus on things millions of people ignore every day as mere background. The mosaics are lovely.

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  6. Such pretty mosaics. You asked about our dog. We got him from a rescue so we don't know for sure but he's at least part border collie.

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  7. Oh- Those are great photos. I went to school in NYC and the subways and tile work is pure art! xo Diana

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  8. Love seeing the subway tile. It is quite beautiful.

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  9. Thanks for posting these great photos of the NYC mosaics. These workmen (& women) were such un-recognized artists of their time.

    The link to your kitchen tile job was very informative, too. Is your counter top soapstone? If so - may I ask who or where it came from? We're in Richmond and I've just started to scope out sources for local SS for a DIY counter replacement.

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  10. Nancy, our counters are Corian, but they look so much like soapstone. That's why I chose this pattern when I designed our kitchen. I do have a local soapstone source. Email me and I will send it to you ... as soon as I figure out where I put the info. (your email isn't attached to your blogger profile, or I would have sent you this directly.)

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  11. I haven't been to NYC in so long but I remember just being in awe thinking about all the work that went into doing all that gorgeous tile! I've actually been thinking about a weekend trip to the city sometime soon... But I have something specific in mind! When I was last there, I saw occasional shops in Chinatown packed to the gills with blue and white porcelain. Did you wander around Chinatown much? If so did you see any shops like that? I know Chinatown is sort of undergoing a boom in development right now so I'm wondering if those little shops have been chased out.

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  12. This was a memory jogger, Connie, of the old Union Station in Los Angeles. Wonderful tile work, both theirs and yours.

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