Nowadays you can see subway tiles in kitchens and bathrooms in residential houses, but the history of those tiles dates back to the unveiling of the New York subway system in the early 1900s. White tiles were covering the walls of the new subway platforms, accented with colourful tile mosaics. 
If you are thinking to install subway tiles in your house, you need to consider the environment it is being used in. If it is a working environment, you might consider to use darker colour grout to finish between the tiles. The grout picks up stain, and so by using a dark colour, you can avoid the grout picking up any food spills and spatters.
If you want to tile your bathroom with subway tiles, you might think of using them only for a feature wall to make it more special.