Malibu Floor Tile 1920's CA2527

Big and Beautiful. Malibu Floor tiles were made to last and this specimen would enhance any collection.

5 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 1

Malibu tile is a type of ceramic tile that takes its inspiration from the tiles that were produced at Malibu Potteries in Malibu, California, during the latter half of the 1920s. These tiles reflect a style of design that is referred to as Hispano-Moresque or Arabesque exhibiting bright contrasting glaze colors often in geometric patterns that are reminiscent of tiles produced many centuries ago in the Near and Middle East, North Africa and southern Spain. The Adamson House in Malibu, California, now the Malibu Lagoon Museum, contains the largest and most varied display of Malibu Potteries tile.^[1] The Adamson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and became a California Historical Landmark in 1985.

This type of tile was introduced to the American public in San Diego at the Panama California Exposition in 1915 as it adorned the Santa Fe Railroad Depot and what is now the San Diego Museum of Man. These tiles were produced by California China Products Company in National City and were designed by architectural firms in San Francisco and New York City, respectively. The aesthetic represented by these tiles had an immediate appeal to architects and homeowners as they blended beautifully into the increasing popular Spanish Colonial Revival architecture that had also been introduced at the exposition.