Renovations can leave the most pristine of buildings with an ugly, albeit temporary, facade. When you’re one of the world’s biggest consumer technology companies, however, you might prefer to do something a little different.

The building that houses Google’s (News - Alert) New York City offices is currently undergoing routine inspection, though the company wasn’t prepared to let a drab gray or beige sheet cover the building’s exterior.

Instead, the search giant opted to recruit a local artist named Dark Igloo to design artwork to cover the building. The Chelsea building, which was bought by Google for around $1.9 billion in late 2010, now features artwork that tells the story of the neighborhood.

It depicts the history of the meat-packing industry and nearby hotels, while it also includes a drawing of Major Thomas Clarke, the area’s first British resident. The artwork spans the entire block.

With the addition of the artwork to the building, Google launched a website that lets visitors discover more about both the artwork and Chelsea. Titled ChelseaIllustrated, it offers insights into the number of art galleries that call the area home (more than 300) and depicts the transformation of the High Line walkway. Meanwhile, it offers tips on the best places to eat at Chelsea Market and notes some famed works of fiction to have been written in the neighborhood.

"We saw this as an opportunity to get creative and give something back to the community," a Google spokesperson told Mashable.

Google’s building is on 111 Eighth Avenue, between 15th and 16th streets. It previously housed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

For a company that often looks to the future, as with its Google Glass project, it is towards the past that Google looked to for inspiration here.