The train station in Cincinnati, Ohio, is one of the best examples of art déco architecture in the United States. The large colourful rotunda and murals by Winold Reiss, make the station an engineering masterpiece. Unfortunately, Union Terminal was built during the worst period for the country’s economy. The Great Depression and then the post-war fad for passenger cars effectively plunged the entire investment. Some of the station’s buildings were demolished and it was not long before Union Terminal shared the fate of the recently renovated Michigan Central Station. Fortunately, the city renovated the building in the 1990s and turned it into a museum.
Unlucky timing
In the early 20th century, Cincinnati’s dispersed network of small rail stations began to have capacity problems. At the time, both state and national railways were highly developed in Ohio, forcing the state’s third-largest city to build one large station. The architects of Fellheimer & Wagner, who had designed the Grand Central Terminal in New York City earlier in the century, were commissioned to design the station. Construction work began two months before Black Thursday, making it difficult to complete the work in subsequent years. To top it off, the station was completed in 1933, the worst time of the Great Depression.
The original idea was to build the station in a neo-Gothic style, but the final decision was for a cheaper and more functional art déco. From the outside, passengers are greeted by a cascading fountain in a pleasant sandy turquoise colour. After climbing a small hill, the 32-metre-high semi-circular façade appears to the eye. On the side buttresses are two reliefs symbolising transport and trade. The figure on the left holds a winged globe, while the figure on the right carries a caduceus (symbol of trade). The reliefs by Maxfield Keck foreshadow the other works of art created by several European artists working on the station’s decoration.
The limestone and glass facade in the shape of a semicircle was inspired by the Helsinki train station designed by Eliel Saarinen. The father of modernist architect Eero Saarinen designed the station in the Art Nouveau style, but the building’s geometric shapes foreshadow the coming art déco. As with Helsinki Station, a clock five and a half metres in diameter is placed in the centre of the biforium Union Terminal, separated by columns.
The temple of transport
Inside, a huge 54-metre wide rotunda awaits passengers. The warm colours of the stucco arches of the half-dome are juxtaposed with the brown marble of the walls. In turn, the terrazzo floor has been separated by brass lines. Interestingly, the stone from Verona and Tennessee contains traces of prehistoric fossils.
Union Terminal is, of sorts, a temple of transport. As befits a temple, its interior is decorated with more than 60 works of art relating to railways, development and US history. The most impressive installations are the two 34 m wide murals that stretch along the interior of the rotunda. Winold Reiss, an artist of German origin, created a mosaic consisting of glass elements set against a stucco background. The mural on the left depicts the history of the United States, while the one on the right shows the past of Cincinnati and Ohio. The mosaics are highly detailed, as can be seen by the individual buildings in the background or the facial expressions of the figures. There were more than 23 such murals, but only eight mosaics have survived to the present day.
The other rooms are also stunning in their finish. Marble panelling, metal finishes and paintings on the walls create a timeless art déco interior. The dining room and many other rooms look like this. The larger dining room features similar décor and a large painting on the ceiling depicting a 1930s map of the city. A separate work of art is the tea room (now an ice cream parlour) lined with ceramics from local company Rockwood Ceramics. The green and white tiles are further decorated with floral patterns. The decoration of the waiting area in front of the bathrooms may also be of interest. Frenchman Pierre Bourdelle created murals depicting exotic animals such as antelopes or monkeys. Linoleum floors and wooden accents at the door are also Bourdelle’s ideas.
Interestingly, the Station even has a presidential room lined with wood. A clock was placed above the entrance to the oval room, along with a sketch of the station’s facade. In addition, the floor is lined with cork.
A deteriorating pearl
The station was intended to serve 17,000 passengers a day, but it soon became apparent that the economic crisis and the growing automobile market were effectively discouraging Americans from taking trains. The Second World War increased the demand for rail transport, bringing the number of passengers to 30,000 per day. This was the last moment of increased rail traffic at the station, as passenger numbers dropped dramatically a few years later. The construction of a highway through Cincinnati was the nail in the coffin of Union Terminal.
The following decades proved to be very difficult for the station’s management. By the 1960s, passenger traffic had shrunk to just 24 trains a day, and in the following decade Amtrak reduced that number to one service a day. Over time, the large station building was partly transformed into a science centre and museum, but even such attractions could not save the inefficient Union Terminal from complete closure. In 1972, the station was closed and Amtrak began using a small station built next to the original building.
A year later, the station fell into the hands of Southern Railway, which immediately announced its intention to demolish the building. In response to the company’s announcement, residents began a series of protests outside the homes of boarders. The site was listed on the local register of historic buildings, but this status did not stop SR from demolishing more than a dozen smaller station buildings. Most of these were unused rooms next to the station. Many of the Reiss mosaics were pulled from the walls of the demolished rooms and transported to the nearby airport. Despite such measures, some murals, marbles and brass details have not survived to the present day.
Land of Oz
Protests against Southern Railway continued for months afterwards, until an organisation of local businessman Joseph Skilken took an interest in the matter. The organisation’s board of directors proposed that the station’s owners buy back the building and create a shopping centre in it called ‘Land of Oz’. In time, shops, restaurants and other minor attractions sprung up in Union Terminal, and the grand opening took place in 1980. The shopping centre’s initial successes were thwarted by the looming recession of the early 1980s, and the facility, managed by Skilken’s organisation, closed after only four years of operation.
Following the closure of the shopping centre, the station attracted the interest of the city’s historical society, which began looking for a large space for its new headquarters. The society was joined by the museum of natural history, which offered a real chance of turning the station into one large museum building. With funding and loans from the city and the state, the building was able to be refurbished and arranged for exhibition halls. The museum at Union Terminal quickly became one of Cincinnati’s top attractions, and Amtrak even resumed service to New York.
In 2016. Union Terminal underwent another major renovation. What’s more, the museum expanded its collection and the number of exhibitors. Today, the historic station is an art déco gem and a large concentration of museum exhibitions. It is worth recalling the fact that there was very little to prevent this delightful building from surviving to the present day. It is only thanks to the commitment of local organisations and, above all, local residents, that the perfect art déco of Cincinnati’s Union Terminal station can be admired today.
Source: Art Deco Society of New York
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