Vintage Union Terminal postcard. Image from oldpostcards.com

Brunch

Sunday was our last full day in Cincinnati, and we began by a return to the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood for brunch. Settled by a large German population in the 19th Century, the area is noted for large collection of brick buildings constructed between the 1860s and the 1880s.

St. Francis Seraph Church and School

Mellotone Beer Project brewery in the former Taft Ale House in a former Over-the-Rhine church.

Not far from the former Taft Ale House and St. Francis Seraph Church was Alcove by Madtree Brewing where we stopped for brunch. This was another of Suzanne’s excellent recommendations. Located on Vine Street in another 19 Century building, it has a bright and open atmosphere. And the food is very good, too.

Alcove by Madtree Brewing. Photos by oswaldco.com.

After brunch we headed back to the Netherland Plaza where we said goodbye to Suzanne and we headed off to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal for an early afternoon tour.

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

The front facade of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

Ten years ago, on our way home from “freakin’, tiqeun” in Texas, Chris and I paid a visit to Union Terminal. Tours are given on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays but unfortunately, it was a Wednesday.

Chris and Anthony’s 2014 visit to Union Terminal. 

Therefore, we made sure not to leave Cincinnati this time without taking one. For more information about the tours click this link for the Cincinnati Heritage Programs.

History

The culmination of thirty-five years of work, Union Terminal would consolidate all five of Cincinnati’s train depots and seven railroads under one roof.

Cincinnati’s five depots that were replaced by Union Terminal. Placard from the Cincinnati Heritage Programs.

Lincoln Park, circa 1900. Image from wikipedia.org.

The new terminal site replaced popular Lincoln Park and its lake. With this in mind, the architects, Alfred Fellheimer, Steward Wagner and Roland Wank, incorporated beautiful landscaping and a fountain and pool as compensation for the park’s loss.

Fellheimer and Wagner gave the task of actually designing the terminal to a younger employee Roland Wank. Wank’s original design featured traditional Gothic styling.

Early design drawing of Cincinnati’s Union Terminal Rotunda. Originally published in the Cincinnati Enquirer, June 2, 1929.

During the early stages of construction, the terminal company persuaded the architects to employ Paul Phillippe Cret as a design consultant. And it is In this capacity that Cret altered the design from Gothic to Moderne. It was more cheerful than the original design, and more importantly less expensive to build, so his changes were approved.

In 1928 the regrading of Mill Creek began in preparation for the new station. Costing $41,000,000 ($1,001,885,500.000 in 2025), the actual construction began in August, 1929. Plans for Union Terminal did not halt despite the stock market crash the following October and construction continued on schedule through the worst of the depression.

Architectural cross-section drawing of the Union Terminal rotunda, by Fehlheimer and Wagner. Image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection.

The official opening date was set for March 31, 1933. However, flooding of the Ohio River caused four of the city’s downtown train stations to be shut down and trains started to use the terminal almost two weeks earlier on the 19th.

Train service peaked at Union Terminal during the Second World War. But, after the war, train travel began a steady decline caused in part by the creation of the interstate highway system and competition from airlines.

Subsequently, the last passenger train stopped at Union Terminal on October 29, 1972 less than forty years after opening.  Luckily abandonment did not mean demolition and in 1978, a shopping mall found a home in the former train station.

Union Terminal as the department store Loehmann’s, late 1970s. Image from Wikipedia.

The mall subsequently closed in the early 80s. Then in 1990, the building became home to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. And best of all, Amtrak began to use the station again in 1991.

The Exterior

The approach to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal from the parking lot.

At the end of the two long, landscaped drives is the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal. And looking very much like the Justice League of America’s Hall of Justice, the front of the half dome rotunda forms an enormous arch that welcomes visitors.

Being winter the fountain in front of the museum center was not running.

Inside the arch are windows separated by wide mullions. New windows, mimicking the original’s texuture and appearance, replaced the deteriorating 1933 Magnalite Glass ones, in a 2010 renovation.

At the arch’s center is a large, 16-foot diameter illuminated clock. The clock’s face is white glass with red glass marking the hours and red neon outline the clock hands, making it easy to read from a great distance.

Detail of the illuminated clock. Photo taken in 2014.

Two wide pilasters flanking the half dome’s front facade have figures in bas-relief.  Designed by Maxfield Keck (1880-1943), the 30-foot figures represent transportation in female form and commerce in male form.

Fine-grained Indiana limestone over a low granite base covers the exterior of the terminal. With the only exception being Cold Spring rainbow granite around the main entrance under the marquee.

The Cold Spring rainbow granite around the main entrance under the marquee. Photo from 2014.

Flanking the rotunda are the three former passage ways for automobiles, taxis and buses for dropping off and picking up travelers. Museum exhibitions now occupy these passage ways.

Front of the Union Terminal showing the former passage way entrances.

The Rotunda

Architectural cross-section drawing of the Union Terminal rotunda, by Fehlheimer and Wagner. Image from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Collection.

The Cincinnati Heritage Tours begin in the rotunda. The main hall of the former train station is said to be the largest half dome in the western hemisphere and measures 180 feet across and raises up to a height of 106 feet.

The rotunda of the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

Just inside the main entrance stands the museum ticket counter, With the exception of a couple of video monitors and a no longer functioning digital clock, it looks very much like it did in 1933 as the information booth.

The former information booth, now the Cincinnati Museum Center’s ticket booth.

The architects thoughtfully designed every detail of the station, right down to the floor. Using different shades of cream, gray and rose terrazzo divided by brass strips, the patterns created helped to visually guide travelers to important sections of the station.

The rotunda’s lower walls are of two types of marble. The baseboard is of Domestic Rouge antique, and Red Verona marble is used for the high dado, sides, soffits and passages. Panels are either flat or cylindrical and have aluminum decorative strips at the joints. And topping each cylinder is a frosted glass light.

Lower wall treatment.

Looking toward the front of the rotunda.

No doubt, the concentric circle and stepped ceiling and arch of acoustical plaster are the most stunning features of the terminal and the building is a marvel of construction; it hangs from double walled concrete over a steel frame.

As concrete is porous and steel rusts, this combination can severely compromise the bond between the two.  This is what happened when the building was largely abandoned, making parts of the building unstable. Remediation of this issue was a large part of the restoration.

Heading upstairs we passed by several small rooms now used for storage and building supplies. During the war they were used as small bedrooms where servicemen could take a quick nap before billeting out. The tour starts at the upper-level walkway seen in the above picture just over the main entrances.

View from the second level walkway

From this vantage, there is an excellent view of two of the now eight Winold Reiss’s mosaic murals in the terminal. These two large panels, 22′ x 110′ in size, contain hundreds of thousands of individual pieces of glass, and depict both the history of Cincinnati and the United States from the Native American to the modern citizen. German born Reiss emigrated to the United States in 1913. He quickly gained fame for his work of strong graphic designs as well as his commercial interior work, which included the Longchamps chain of restaurants.

Winold Reiss’ “signature” on the History of the United States mural in the terminal rotunda.

Terminal Offices

From here we headed to the office of H. A. Worcester. As president of the terminal, he was responsible for the day to day operations. Protecting the inner sanctum is the executive secretary office. Her responsibilities included maintaining business files, overseeing the master key locker and handling guests.

The secretary’s desk – a first line of defense.

Through the glass panel doors is a small lounge with access to a cloak room, powder room and president’s conference room. Opposite the built-in cabinetry are the curved doors leading into the president’s office.

View from inside the president’s office. presidents office.

The office is surprisingly small, but sumptuous as befitting the president of an important organization. The curved entrance wall and built-ins give counterpoint to the industrial elements in the room.

A comfortable chair behind an art deco desk.

Industrial lighting is built into the mullions between the windows.

Cast aluminum lamps.

Across from his desk is a streamlined fireplace with deco andirons, and a marquetry map of the USA fills the space above.  Just to the right of the fireplace is an inconspicuous door leading to the boardroom. 

Art Deco fireplace and andirons to keep him warm in the winter.

The board room is quite large, as expected, with bands of alternating dark and light cork and cast aluminum accents.

With the exception of the flat screen TV the board room looks very much the same in 2024 as it did in 1933.

Leather and burl wood banquettes with integrated ash receptacles, line the wall.

Looking toward the door coming from the president’s office.

Banquette at the end of the room with integrated ashtrays.

Display shelving

Cast aluminum hardware

The exit door on the south side of the board room opens to the waiting room for guests of the president. Access to this room is primarily through the secretary’s office. It is a relatively small space and features veneered walls with a tan and light and dark brown cork floor. And a specially designed settee offers a place for waiting guests to sit.

The Formal Dining Room

Union Terminal’s formal dining room, looking west.

This space has changed little from when the terminal first opened over 90 years ago. The windows to the west originally looked down on the platforms and the north and south walls have a series of mirrors separated by columns giving the illusion of the dining room extending into infinity. Originally at the base of each mirror was a planter with ferns to soften the hard edges of the woodwork and mirrors.

A small bar located at the eastern side of the dining room is underneath a balcony, that was used by small orchestras on special occasions.

The small bar and balcony at the eastern side of the dining room.

Dark wood and aluminum inlays break up the lighter wood veneer of the lower walls. And above it all is a Pierre Bourdelle’s (1901 – 1966) ceiling mural featuring a map of Cincinnati, the terminal, other city landmarks and framed by four modes of transportation.

Pierre Bourdelle’s Cincinnati map ceiling mural for the formal dining room.

And like all of the other public spaces, the floor is covered in terrazzo. For the dining room it is alternating slabs of pink and gray, separated by thin brass strips.

Detail of the formal dining room’s terrazzo flooring.

Lunchroom

The former hostess counter at the entrance of the Lunch Room.

A curved counter with display cases at either end greets one when entering the Lunchroom. Originally, this is where customers paid their bills after eating. The counter features two polished chrome uplighter lamps that focuses their light up to the Bourdelle ceiling mural. Hanging from the middle of the mural is a modernistic metal and frosted glass Saturn ring light.

Detail of the ceiling light in the entrance for the lunch room.

Although the original serpentine counter is missing, the lunchroom has changed little over the years.

Union Terminal Lunchroom.

The marble tops of the now removed counters were of Vermont Verdi with a dado of red Verona. Surrounding the counter were aluminum stools with red leather upholstered seats and backs.

Lunchroom looking toward the north.

Surrounding the lunchroom red Verona walls rise to the height of the entrance’s drop ceiling and a band of green Campani separate it from the windows and painted panels above. The lunchroom’s barred ceiling is painted in a buff tan.

Detail of the polished aluminum and frosted glass lunchroom ceiling lights.

More Bourdelle paintings of different food themes form a border around the lunchroom’s upper walls.

The upper walls of the Union Terminal’s Lunch Room showing some of the food themed border by Bourdelle.

The Hallway leading from the rotunda to the lunch and dining rooms, features an  abstract Bourdelle ceiling painting.

The Bourdelle ceiling mural in the hallway that leads from the rotunda to the station’s dining rooms.

Women’s Dining Room Lounge (Alcove)

Bourdelle’s carved linoleum mural in the former Women’s Dining Room Lounge.

Perhaps Bourdelle’s most spectacular mural is in the former Women’s Dining Room Lounge across from the Lunch Room. It is a fanciful jungle scene made from carved linoleum.

Details of the Jungle Mural.

Newsreel Theatre

Many large rail terminals had newsreel theatres. For .25¢, travelers could spend an hour watching the latest news and short subjects in air conditioned comfort. And Union Terminal was no exception with an intimate theatre running newsreels produced by the Scripps Howard News Service. Around 1948 it was rechristened the Terminal Art Theatre and programming switched to the exhibition of foreign films.

Circa 1933 photograph of Union Terminal’s New Reel Theatre. Photo from cinematreasures.org.

The 118-seat theatre featured more linoleum carved murals by Pierre Bourdelle, that were removed at some point, or have been covered over. Today railroad themed videos are shown in the former newsreel theatre.

The former Union Terminal Newsreel Theatre.

Looking toward the back of the theatre. Chris is in the shadows of the second photo.

The doors leading from the auditorium to the lobby.

Tan marble, separated by aluminum strips cover the lobby walls while other inlaid aluminum strips create modernistic wall decorations. The white doors feature black ziggurat stripes, a very popular decorative effect in the 1920s and 1930s.

Box Office door.

A 2014 photo of the Newsreel Theatre entrance, showing the now removed Scripps Howard sign.

Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor

After the end of the tour, we wanted a snack and we were happy to see that the Rookwood Ice Parlor was open.

Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor welcome sign.

One steps back in time when entering the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor, an original feature of the terminal. It was first constructed as a tea room, serving travelers and locals alike.

Original view as the Tearoom. (Photo via Alamay.com)

The Rookwood trademark tile in the Tearoom / Ice Cream Parlor.

The space was converted into the first USO transit lounge in the country. It is thought that one out of every five World War II serviceman passed through the station. 

Looking from the far corner.

It only closed when the building shuttered in 1972. But when the terminal reopened as a shopping mall, the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor was born.

All original except for the tables and chairs.

Close-up of some of the bespoke tiles.

Attributed to Rookwood artist and designer William E Hentschel, whimsical faience tile is used throughout. The tiles are bespoke, and precious, and irreplaceable. And each tile is valued between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars.  And due to the careful conservation and preservation, the parlor looks almost as exactly as it did on opening day.

Overhead lights in the same style as the fixture in the lunch room.

A view into the past.

An interesting feature of the parlor are the large picture windows at the end which overlook the The Museum of Natural History & Science Dinosaur Hall next door. So, you can enjoy your treat with a dinosaur!

Original functioning water fountain.

Still thirsty after after your sugary treat?  Sate your thirst by using an original water fountain right outside the Rookwood Ice Cream Parlor doors.

With our snacks finished it was time to leave Union Terminal and head back to the hotel. The next day as we hit the road back home, there was still one more Deco stop to visit.

Chris enjoying his afternoon at Union Terminal.

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’ Tiquen Guys)

Sources

Written

Cincinnati Union Terminal – The Design and Construction of an Art Deco Masterpiece

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Online

cincymusuem.org

frenchsculpture.org

wikipedia.org

winoldreiss.org