This iconic artist-built environment of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Simon Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954, in his own small yard near the train tracks in Watts. The collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics, harken back to his upbringing in Nola, Italy and the celebration of the Feast of San Paolino.

The Tile House is considered an Albuquerque landmark. All original mosaic art work that covers the home was completed by ceramic artist Beverley Magennis. She tiled the interiors and exteriors of homes, including her own, with tiles, pennies, and mosaics. Beginning in 1984 with a mosaic border around the doorway, eleven years later the house was covered inside and out.

Snakes atop the walls, fabulous mosaics and a giant eagle with an Amazon warrior guiding it, Those are just some of the elements of the Magic Circle, created by Kiki de Saint Phalle, a French-born self-taught artist whose large scale sculptures earned her accolades in Europe. Influenced by figures such as Jean Dubuffet and Antoni Gaudi, she made her reputation in the Sixties with a series of giant female figures, the “Nana’s”.