the white tiles for like walls.
It was the type of tile that used to be used to tile subways. It was rectangular in shape and aside from that it was no different than basic ceramic bathroom tile. There are probably some stations around that still have the old tile but for the most part, new stations and refurbished ones get the standard square tiles now. There has been a resurgence of the use of subway tile in homes in the past few years because it makes it possible to do a herringbone pattern which you can't do with square tiles.
The style of the tile (hey, that rhymes) is very similar to the style used in many of the stations in the NYC subway system (and probably other systems) over the years.
