Buildings and houses with red tiled roofs were once a common sight across the state. The shift from straw and leaf thatched roofs to tile roofs was due to the advent of tile factories in the late 19^th century. It was in 1865 that the first tile industry was established in India at Mangalore by the Basel Mission. The first in Kerala was established at Calicut in 1873, and since then there were several tile factories established in the state, especially in the Malabar region. Feroke was the cradle of tile industry in Kerala. Products from these factories were sold in several parts of the British Empire, and exported to many other foreign countries.

Today, many of the tile making factories have stopped functioning due to the non-availability of good quality clay and many other reasons. Though the traditional tile making are on the wane, tiles can be seen having a place on the roofs of temples and other traditional constructions.