Fantastic #HouseofHades #ToynbeeTile originally reported by @FrancisBass in center city #philadelphia. Had to go check up on it when I was walking home from work. It’s a lot larger than a tile or similar design I’ve seen, but it’s position doesn’t really lend itself to “foot for reference” photos I like. There are also some other goodies nearby for ambitious tile watchers.

This monochrome #ToynbeeTile installation lives in lower #manhattan. It’s one of the most interesting ones I’ve come across since it involves a two-way communication medium instead of the normal exhortations to make and glue tiles, which are one-way obv. Some fellow enthusiasts pointed out to me that W.E. (Western Electric) Fortresses are a model of pay phone, but what does he use them for?? I’ve never heard of House of Hades calling anyone
#HouseOfHades #mastoart #graffiti #streetart #newyork

This is the next slide and likely to be nearby, if that helps.

#toynbeetile #toynbeeinvestigation #nyc #streetart

This #ToynbeeTile lives in west Philly near #UPenn. You can see the classic white on black with a red border in the center, plus auxiliary plaques above (white) and below (blue). Unfortunately, the text on the plaques was quite degraded by the time I verified this tile, so all I can make out is a typical exhortation to “make & glue tiles”. I believe there are older images extant with more legible text, but need to find them. #toynbee #streetart #art #mastoart #graffiti #graffitiart #photography

I can’t count how many times I’ve walked right by this tiny, old #ToynbeeTile just a stone’s throw from #Philadelphia city hall. I’ve seen some of these old ones down in the narrow old alleys of #SouthPhilly but to have a decades-old tile in the shadow of City Hall is really something else. It’s also in a crosswalk so it blends in with the degrading crosswalk stripes, I only realized it was a tile after noticing some of the text. The message is tough to guess at, probably starts “…[hel]lions…”

This is an example of a brand new kind of tile that was reported to us this summer! This doesn’t really fit the style of the Original, #HouseofHadesTile , or #stikman so I’ve dubbed the creator “Company Man,” which is carved into the pink man on the left. He has another tile reported in South Philly somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it and it may have been paved. Tile text in alt text.

#CompanyManTile #toynbeetile #toynbeetiles #philly #streetart #art #graffart #graffporn #graffiti

Behold, an authentic, original south #Philly #ToynbeeTile. Not sure exactly how old this one is, but it’s tiny and it’s in one of South Philly’s smaller alleyways, so it’s probably been there for decades.

It was a real rush to find it but it just makes me wonder - how many of these have I walked right by without noticing? (Hand for scale)

#phillyart #art #streetart #graff #graffiti #phillygraff

Now that we’ve covered the basics of #toynbeetiles I’ll introduced a more advanced feature: the dial. A dial is really just a circular feature with one or more notches cut into it. In the picture below, there are three dials: red with a yellow notch, blue with a red notch, and yellow with a white (?) notch.

#streetart #philadelphia #philadelphiaarts #philly #phillyart #graffiti #phillygraff #art #mosaic #mosaics #arthistory #houseofhades #houseofhadestile #toynbeetile

An extra large abstract house of hades #toynbeetile on the streets of #manhattan #nyc. This is among the largest ones I’ve ever seen, and it is certainly the most colorful. I think these abstract ones may have started as ways to dispose of scraps from the more literal tiles, but then became their own genre of mosaic. This is also one of the earliest totally abstract mosaics, and you can see components from other tiles in it.

#mosaic #houseofhades #art #streetart #iloveny #publicart #graffiti

Triptych Toynbee tile - House of Hades 2022 - in Center City Philly

#houseofhades #toynbee #toynbeetile #toynbeetiles #art #artwork #artgallery #artcollector #artofinstagram #artjournal #artlover #artcurator #streetphotography #streetart #streetartist #graff #graffart #graffporn #grafflife #graffitiporn #215graff #phillygraff #philly #urbanphotography #urbanexplorer #urbanexploration #urbanexploring #urbanex

@mosaicism This is wonderful! Thank you for sharing all the accounts and yes, LOVING HOMER!

I was trying to recall Toynbee Tiles and their street tiles from the 80’s. Here’s an Atlas Obscura article on them, I don’t believe we ever found out who they were: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toynbee-tiles

#Flacking #ToynbeeTile