Spanish Village Art Center, Art studios complex in Balboa Park, San Diego, United States

Spanish Village Art Center is a cluster of single-storey studios in Balboa Park, built by architect Richard Requa for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. The studios have blue-painted walls, white-trimmed doors and low roofs of curved red clay tiles; a yellow umbrella stands above one doorway. A paved courtyard patterned with rectangular tiles in pink, blue, yellow, gray and white links the buildings, and a wooden sign above a doorway reads "SPANISH VILLAGE ART CENTER".

The center was designed by Richard Requa in 1935 for the California Pacific International Exposition and was occupied by the US Army during World War II. After the war it became a permanent art center and has remained one ever since.

In the 1980s artists banded together to paint the tiles laid in the courtyard, which are believed to come from buildings demolished in San Diego in the 1930s. The painted squares of pink, blue, yellow, gray and white now pattern the paving around the planters and benches. Tenants today include the San Diego Mineral and Gem Society and the Southern California Association of Camera Clubs.

The center is open daily and allows visitors to watch artists at work and chat with them directly. Plan time to explore several studios since there is plenty to see across the different spaces.

The colored tiles paving the courtyard were painted by artists in the 1980s to draw more visitors; they are thought to come from the ruins of buildings demolished in San Diego in the 1930s. Look down at the pink, blue, yellow, gray and white squares set in concrete.