Are the Toynbee tiles still there?
There’s a decades-old mystery underfoot in Downtown Pittsburgh: small tiles placed in busy intersections that decry the media and ponder resurrection. Toynbee Tiles, as they’re known, began in Philadelphia sometime in the 1980s. Today, they can be found all across the United States, and even in South America.
What do the Toynbee tiles mean?
The Toynbee tiles (also called Toynbee plaques) are messages of unknown origin found embedded in asphalt of streets in about two dozen major cities in the United States and four South American cities. Since the 1980s, several hundred tiles have been discovered.
Where are the Toynbee tiles?
Most of the tiles appear in the Philadelphia area and in surrounding cities. Boston is the city furthest east with authentic Toynbee tiles, and Kansas City is the furthest west, although copycats can be found across the West Coast. Several authentic ones also appear in South America.
How were the Toynbee tiles made?
Believed to be made of linoleum and asphalt crack sealant, the license plate-sized, colorful mosaic tiles have been seen in about two dozen major American cities since the 1980s.
Who did Toynbee tiles?
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, directed by Jon Foy, is a 2011 independent documentary film about the Toynbee tile phenomenon. The film was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Documentary category, and Foy won the category’s Directing Award.
How many Toynbee tiles are there?
The map, replete with photos, shows where over 600 Tiles are, or once were. Increasingly, the photos are all that are left, says Weinik. “Unfortunately, there was a lot of repaving, so there isn’t a ton of good ones left to preserve.”
How are House of Hades tiles similar to Toynbee tiles?
House of Hades tiles greatly resemble the original Toynbee Tiles (example above) in style and construction though their inherent and obvious messages are quite different… and often quite weird. House of Hades’ most commonly expressed sentiment is a vitriolic hatred for the Mass Media – sometimes called out in person, i.e. the New York Post.
How are the House of Hades street tiles made?
Like the original Toynbee Tiles, House of Hades tiles are made of cut linoleum set mosaic-style into a tar base, then covered with a thin sheet of tar paper. The cover protects and stabilizes the tile until solar heat and the weight exerted by passing traffic conspire to press the tile into the pavement.
Where did the Toynbee Street tiles come from?
The so-called “Toynbee Tiles” are mosaic messages cut from colored linoleum floor tiles and ingeniously set into asphalt-paved urban streets. The tiles – made and installed by a still-anonymous person – began appearing decades ago in cities from the U.S. east coast west to Kansas and as far south as Santiago, Chile.