Throughout the 18th and 20th centuries, waves of Spanish immigrants arrived in New York City. Many of them settled in the Greenwich/West Village, and remnants of Spanish art and culture are still visible in this area today.

One of them is an arch featuring beautiful blue and white tiles next to 88 Perry Street. These tiles are known as azulejo, referring to terracotta tiles w/ an opaque glaze. They are found on all kinds of surfaces throughout Spain and Portugal.Though the building was built in the 1860s, the history of the arch is a little opaque. Some say that that the owners of the building commissioned a Spanish artist named Rodriguez to install the mural while renovating it in 1972. HOwever, others have said that the “Rodríguez” in the inscription on the mural actually referred to the factory in Seville, Spain that manufactured the tiles.

However these tiles came about, they are a striking addition to a little corner of the West Village.