A History of Hexagon Tile, a Turn-of-the-Century Bathroom Staple Still Going Strong

I grew up in a pre-war bungalow house in Belmont Cragin, which is a bungalow belt neighborhood in Chicago (think: squat little houses with bay windows lining the entire block, harkening back to a time of streetcars and phonographs). The homes there were mainly built between 1910 and 1930 to accommodate an exploding middle-class population, per this local encyclopedia.

Bungalow homes were part of the answer to this boom, and when my parents moved into our particular house, very few updates, if any, had been made since the time it was built. The kitchen had steel cabinets, the dining room had glass block windows, and the wooden sleeping porch out back was still intact. The detail I remember most vividly, though, was the hexagonal floor tiles in our bathroom; they were laid in a floral pattern and color-matched to the blue tiles on the walls.

I always thought these tiny tiles were unique to my house. So imagine my surprise when, decades later, I went to an apartment-viewing in a 100-year-old building (which would later become my home!) and saw the same tiles. They were the worse for wear and definitely showed their years, but there they were. It made me wonder about these small hexagonal tiles: How did they originate, and why exactly did they take off in bathroom design in particular?

Bathrooms weren’t a common house feature for most of the 19th century. “As running water and plumbing infiltrated the mainstream bathroom, there was an opportunity to create a new space — a space that hadn’t been considered for design before,” says Erin Byrd Oliver, principal designer at American Restoration Tile, a Little Rock, Arkansas-based custom ceramic tile manufacturer.

At first, Byrd Oliver says, most bathrooms were designed with luxurious wooden wainscoting, lacquered wooden floors, and ornate wooden cabinets that enclosed sinks and tubs. “Before the hex tile floor was the varnished wooden floor, and that didn’t [mesh] well with water from the new bathtub … overall, your floor wouldn’t rot if it was covered in porcelain,” Byrd Oliver adds, due to porcelain tile’s natural stain- and water-resistance.

Hex tiles were a practical solution, sure, but they were also considered quite stylish. The designer adds that the small hexagonal (six-sided) tiles — and their cousin, the circular penny tile — were undoubtedly influenced by British styles. “Both in the way they were made and in the way they made the new American bathroom feel regal, clean, and sophisticated, like those fancy Brits,” Byrd Oliver explains.

By the turn of the century, most homeowners had begun to tile their bathrooms not only for convenience and looks, but also in response to germ theory. Tiled bathrooms, which “less than a generation ago [were] found only in the houses of the American millionaire, [are] now regarded as such a sanitary essential as to be specified by law … a tiled bathroom can quite safely be flushed out with a hose, and with little effort it is possible to keep the tile floor as clean as a dinner plate,” The Journal and Tribune, a Knoxville, Tennessee-based publication, reported in 1907.

As populations continued to grow, hygiene became increasingly important to stave off disease. The arrival of the 1918 Spanish Flu was an especially powerful driving force behind the trend: “One-inch hex tiles on the floors and 3-inch by 6-inch subway tiles on the walls were less about the aesthetic and more about the functionality of cleanliness,” Byrd Oliver says.

“Subway tiles going up the walls had very thin grout joints, and impermeable porcelain tile on the floor mounted at a half-inch grout joint left little room for the Spanish Flu to infiltrate your home.” 

Once that pandemic subsided, however, people began to tire of the super-sterile, all-white look. As a result, new tile trends began to emerge. “It all started with the white hex to impress [upon] others that you were clean, clean, clean,” Byrd Oliver says. “As time and tastes moved on, so did hex tiles. By 1910, pigments were available to make black, browns, blues, and greens, and we start to see the decorative 3/4-inch square border emerge.”

According to Byrd Oliver, around that time tile makers also figured out that iron oxide-based pigments fired at a very slow rate yielded a beautiful burgundy that can often be found in the border of pre-war foyers in New York City or Chicago. “Notice the variation in the burgundy in any original NYC foyer border — there are light ones and dark ones and speckled ones and almost black ones — and those are the firing trials of gas kilns of the early 1900s making something new,” she says.

This early shift towards more color and patterns in tile was just the beginning of a larger trend. “By the end of the war, [most] middle- to high-class residences were putting their [own] personal touches on their floors … beyond the basic white hex,” says Byrd Oliver. “By 1925, we see yellows, olive, and pink emerging, and by 1940 we see the full spectrum of colors emerging in bathrooms, foyers, and courthouses.”

The tiles themselves, as well as the practice of tile installation, also became more hygienic in the 1920s and 1930s. “Tile manufactures made very small square and hexagonal tiles, which could be fitted close together (almost mosaic-like) with no gaps in between, creating decorative, hard-wearing, and hygienic surfaces,” says Hans Van Lemmen, president of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society in the United Kingdom. 

Today’s applications tend to favor slightly more visible grout lines. It’s important to note as well, though, that this installation style also bolsters bathroom safety: You’re far less likely to slip with smaller tiles and increased traction from grout joints.

Over the years, like anything else, classic penny and hexagon tiles began to take a backseat to more modern silhouettes and materials. Bathrooms of the ’50s and ’60s tended to favor colorful ceramic square tiles, and shapes and sizes have continued to shift and evolve since then. As of late, though, penny and hex tiles are definitely experiencing another renaissance.

According to the experts I spoke with, the resurgence of the hex tile has to do with both economics and nostalgia. More and more people, especially younger generations, are being priced out of new houses and buying older bungalows or craftsman homes, with a keen interest in restoring rather than gutting them.

Although it’s possible to create elaborate installations with penny and hex tiles (or to order them in fancy stone or pricy glazes), in general they’re fairly plain, and thus something of home style chameleons. Their understated design makes them easy to live with — even if you’re not looking for a perfectly period-appropriate washroom (just like most of the modern bathrooms pictured here).

“I think millennials and Gen-Zers are pushing back against the Amazon culture they’ve been brought up in,” Byrd Oliver says. “[There’s] a return to products built with integrity and care, made slowly — by real people — that will stand the test of time. It’s a push against the quick-ship instant gratification that we Gen-Xers built.”

Ultimately, penny and hex tiles are practical, pretty, and relatively inexpensive (for a brand-new bathroom renovation or a restoration), so they’re showing no real signs of falling out of favor anytime soon. Some of the most creative modern takes on these classic-but-trendy tiles include custom patterns and even messages spelled out in tiles, more colorful variations, and installations moving up the walls to create entire hex tile showers and rooms.