Leaving Cincinnati, heading home, we had one more stop to make, the Xavier University Alumni Center.

Neither Chris or myself are graduates of Xavier University, so why should we want to stop there? The reason, the Alumni Center is in a former, Streamline Moderne, Coca-Cola bottling plant from 1938. Having been a Coca-Cola collector in my teens and with my interest in 1930s architecture I told Chris I wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity to see the building.

A short article announcing the construction of a new two-story Coca-Cola bottling plant, designed by John Henri Deeken appeared in the May 27, 1937 Cincinnati Enquire. Its location would be on the west side of Woodburn Avenue in Cincinnati neighborhood of Evanston.  By July the final plans had been drawn up. Planned as a “show plant” the new $600,000 facility featured a special observation room allowing visitors to watch the bottling operations.

The exterior of Indiana limestone and glass block gives the building a clean and ultra modern appearance. Curved corners on each end of the front facade help in giving a streamline feel to the two-story building.

The verticality of the fluted, three story main entrance breaks up the low horizontal design and adds visual focal point to plant.

 

The 1937 architectural sketch is almost identical to the finished building, with one obvious exception. It seems the original plans included a revolving weather beacon atop of the the main entrance.

Some sources claim that it was not built for fear it could be used for navigation by Japanese bombers for mainland attacks. Even with rising tensions between the United States and Japan in the 1930s, the plant opened a full three years before the attack on Pearl Harbor. And no planes at that time could fly from the west coast to Ohio without having to refuel along the way. Cost cutting during the 1937-1938 recession is a more likely reason for the elimination of the beacon.

Construction proceeded as planned with the plant opening at the end of November, 1938. Ads in the newspapers invited the public to an open house to see for themselves the bottling operations on November 27th and 28th. More than 30,000 people toured the new plant on those two days.

In the early 1980s Coca-Cola closed the bottling plant after forty-four years. The building was falling into disrepair by the time it was purchased by Richard Rosenthal for his F&W Publications. Undertaking an 18 month restoration Rosenthal saved the building and placed it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Xavier University purchased the building in 2001 and eventually turned it into their alumni center. Entering the circular main lobby / reception room immediately transports one back to 1938.

A shiny, terrazzo floor of black and white with red stripes takes ones eyes through the entrance doors up to the reception desk and stairs up to the viewing mezzanine. The walls are of Marlite “marble” and olive wood with aluminum strips dividing the panels. Framing the former observation window are floor to ceiling glass blocks. This is a room that would not be out of place at Rockefeller Center or a 1930s ocean liner.

Opposite the reception desk and framing the main entrance doors are two curving staircases going up to the second floor.

On both sides of the stairs from the landing up to the second floor and incorporated into the railing are two wonderful metal and glass lamps.

The two lamps have a simple but effective design that immediately captures the 1930s. Rising from a polished brass, tiered base is a chrome and frosted glass tube with three circular, glass plates capped by a stepped brass top and finial.

Also at the staircase landing is a bank of four series of windows looking out front of the fluted tower of the main entrance. Decorative brass grilles are placed in front of the windows on the outside. These windows flood the upper stairs and the second floor with natural light.

The second floor has the same terrazzo floor and Marlite “marble” and olive wood walls as the reception lobby. There is a display on the back wall directly in front of the stairs and the ceiling is tiered as it is directly underneath the dome of the main entrance tower.

There is one more decorative feature of the Alumni Center’s reception / lobby and that is the  John F. Holmer (1894 – 1962) mural. Holmer painted the mural, depicting the Cincinnati amusement park Coney Island, sometime between the mid-1940s and early-1950s.

The left and right sides of John F. Holmer’s mural.

Of course a Coca-Cola soda fountain and people enjoying Cokes are prominently featured in the mural. Although we didn’t stay long (no more than 15 – 20 minutes) I’m happy we took the time to see such a great building and nice that it has been so well cared for. Then it was back in the car and back to Rochester. But this wouldn’t be our only visit to a repurposed Coca-Cola bottling plant in 2024, but that is for a future blog post.

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen Guys)

Sources

Online

artworkarchive.com

xavier.edu

Written

The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Post