Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA / Built: 1933 / Architects: Alfred T. Fellheimer, Steward Wagner, Paul Philippe Cret, Roland Wank / Architectural Style: Art Deco / Designated NHL: May 5, 1977

The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, originally Cincinnati Union Terminal, is a mixed-use complex in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. Once a major passenger train station, it went into sharp decline during the postwar decline of railroad travel. Most of the building was converted to other uses, and now houses museums, theaters, and a library, as well as special travelling exhibitions. Since 1991, it has been used as a train station once again.

Built in 1933, it is a monumental example of Art Deco architecture, for which it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

Cincinnati was a major center of railroad traffic in the late 19th and early 20th century, especially as an interchange point between railroads serving the Northeastern and Midwestern states with railroads serving the South. However, intercity passenger traffic was split among no fewer than five stations in Downtown Cincinnati, requiring the many travelers who changed between railroads to navigate local transit themselves. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which operated through sleepers with other railroads, was forced to split its operations between two stations. Proposals to construct a union station began as early as the 1890s, and a committee of railroad executives formed in 1912 to begin formal studies on the subject, but a final agreement between all seven railroads that served Cincinnati and the city itself would not come until 1928, after intense lobbying and negotiations, led by Philip Carey Company president George Crabbs. The seven railroads: the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway; the Louisville and Nashville Railroad; the Norfolk and Western Railway; the Pennsylvania Railroad; and the Southern Railway selected a site for their new station in the West End, near the Mill Creek.

The principal architects of the massive building were Alfred T. Fellheimer and Steward Wagner, with architects Paul Philippe Cret and Roland Wank brought in as design consultants; Cret is often credited as the building's architect, as he was responsible for the building's signature Art Deco style. The Rotunda features the largest semi-dome in the western hemisphere, measuring 180 feet (55 m) wide and 106 feet (32 m) high.

The Union Terminal Company was created to build the terminal, railroad lines in and out, and other related transportation improvements. Construction in 1928 with the regrading of the east flood plain of the Mill Creek to a point nearly level with the surrounding city, a massive effort that required 5.5 million cubic yards of landfill. Other improvements included the construction of grade separated viaducts over the Mill Creek and the railroad approaches to Union Terminal. The new viaducts the Union Terminal Company created to cross the Mill Creek valley ranged from the well built, like the Western Hills Viaduct, to the more hastily constructed and shabby, like the Waldvogel Viaduct. Construction on the terminal building itself began in 1931, with Cincinnati mayor Russell Wilson laying the mortar for the cornerstone. Construction was finished ahead of schedule, although the terminal welcomed its first trains even earlier on March 19, 1933 when it was forced into emergency operation due to flooding of the Ohio River. The official opening of the station was on March 31, 1933. The total cost of the project was $41.5 million.

During its heyday as a passenger rail facility, Cincinnati Union Terminal had a capacity of 216 trains per day, 108 in and 108 out. Three concentric lanes of traffic were included in the design of the building, underneath the main rotunda of the building: one for taxis, one for buses, and one (although never used) for streetcars. However, the time period in which the terminal was built was one of decline for train travel. By 1939, local newspapers were already describing the station as a white elephant. While it had a brief revival in the 1940s, because of World War II, it declined in use through the 1950s into the 1960s.

After the creation of Amtrak in 1971, train service at Cincinnati Union Terminal was reduced to just two trains a day, the George Washington and the James Whitcomb Riley. Amtrak abandoned Cincinnati Union Terminal the next year, opening a smaller station elsewhere in the city on October 29, 1972.

Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cincinnati_Museum_Center_at_Union_T...

Taken in: United States / Ohio / Cincinnati / Over-the-rhine (show map)

Taken on: November 22, 2018

Tags:

Cincinnati

Ohio

cityscape

city

urban

downtown

density

skyline

skyscraper

building

high-rise

architecture

central business district

Hamilton County

cosmopolitan

metropolis

metropolitan

metro

commercial property

Buckeye State

real estate

tall building

commercial district

commercial office

residential

condominium

Carew Tower

Great American Tower

Ohio River

Mt. Adams

Price Hill

PNC Tower

Fountain Square

Procter & Gamble

Newport

Kentucky

Covington

Cincinnati Union Terminal

Ludlow

Kenton County

Mt. Echo Park

riverboat

Scripps Center

Riverfront

Skystar Observation Wheel

metro Cincinnati

Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal

1301 Western Avenue

Built: 1933

Alfred T Fellheimer

Steward Wagner

Paul Philippe Cret

Roland Wank

Art Deco

May 5 1977 « less

Sets appears in: • The Cincinnati, Ohio metropolitan area

Groups appears in: • Living in Cincinnati • Ohio more » • Historical places • Art Deco - Americas • Art-Deco • ->> NiGht ShotS <<- • Historical/Mysterious Places • ! * Urban LIFE in Metropolis //// • Ohio River Cities • *GreatPixGallery 10 Faves+ • A Sense of Place • A Place to live for • * Travel Photography for World Nomads * • * Flickr en Español • *Your city* • *Inspirational Travel Photos • ANYTHING & EVERYTHING PHOTOGRAPHIC / NO SL/AI • The Big City • *** Flickr's Most Creative Shots *** • ! ART & PHOTOGRAPHY ! All artistic works welcome • Ohio sights and pictures • Geotagged: Ohio • 1-2-3 Cityscape • Urban and Industrial Details of Ohio • "Exemplary Shots - Flickr's BEST! (Post 1 Award 3)" • Historic Ohio • Ohio Architecture • Discover Ohio Travel • " Damn Cool Photographers in the WORLD " .♥.♥.♥ • Capture Cincinnati • Travel Ohio • "Unlimited Photos: No Rules" • After Dark Ohio • Cincinnati Skyline • "History & Antiquities (Post 5 - Award 3)" • Historical and architectural gems • Southwest Ohio • Cincinnati,Oh • Ohio Photographers Guild • "THE WORLD IN FLICKR" (NEW RULES) • *****Street Photography***** • " Your BEST of Today " - Through MY Eyes • ***This should be a Postcard!*** • Capture Cincinnati Photographers • ~Engineering is Art~ • Engineering as Art • *Flickr's BEST* - SERIOUS Photographers - Post 1/Comment 3 • ***City Night Lights*** - - Luces de la ciudad nocturna - - • Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana - KOI • Think-Urban Cincinnati • * TRAVEL * (Please COMMENT with the CODE !) • A day in the city • Cincinnati, As We See It • no-limits Ohio • **FLICKR AROUND THE WORLD - ♥ - OUR LOVE TO PHOTOGRAPH!** • Anything Ohio • Cincinnati is just okay. • "Only Good Photographs - PLEASE P1A2" • - i love my nikon - • A Photographer [No AI or SL] • Flickr Ohio • *****THE ARCHITECTS HANDBOOK!***** • *****WORLDARCHITECTURE!***** • !MY PHOTOGRAFIC WORLD! • Cincinnati Panoramas • A+ Architecture, Engineering, & Art - Inside & Out • The Great American City • Artistic & Historical Beauties - P1/C3 • .: CITY :. • #Streetphotography • *Latidos de Ciudad * City Beats * • Greater Cincinnati • A FEAST FOR MY EYES (Public Group) • Cincinnati — The Queen City • !*ALL ARE WELCOME*! • -- ❤ Hello! -- • -- IMMAGINI DAL MONDO -- • -- PhotoMix -- • * just photos * no rules please use comment code appreciated • City, Urban & Engineering Images • -- Photo passion -- • *** Architecture 2018 *** « less

Stats: 19,429 views / 13 comments

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: