Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal | Favorite Architecture

Share Top Five February 11, 2019

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, a library, and a symphonic pipe organ, as well as special travelling exhibitions. Since 1991, it has been used as a train station once again,More info:wiki

Below are photos and Images you may like:

#10 Museum Center at Union Terminal,More info:myunionterminal

#9 Behind-The-Scenes: See How The New Union Terminal Fountain Works,More info:wvxu

The fountain in front of the Cincinnati Museum Center has been delighting visitors young and old since Union Terminal opened in 1933. The cascading green fount got a facelift and a system upgrade as part of the restoration, and construction crews are debuting the geyser Thursday.

The entire fountain and front plaza were removed during the restoration in order to make structural repairs to the roof of the Children’s Museum below. The limestone portions – like the Art Deco light fixtures – were stored, restored and put back in place. The fountain was rebuilt to the same specifications using new terrazzo.

“Most of the plaza was removed in the 1980s when the building was made into the Museum Center,” says Project Architect Nick Cates with GBBN Architects. “But the fountain itself had never been removed, so it still had the original waterproofing underneath and a lead pan that was like a secondary waterproofing under the fountain itself.”

#8 About Cincinnati Museum Center,More info:cincymuseum

#7 Head behind the scenes at Union Terminal restoration,More info:cincinnati

The work itself isn’t exactly hard to spot.

Construction equipment buzzes on the plaza. Cranes hover above.

The results of all that effort at Union Terminal, however, won’t all be as obvious.

That’s because the restoration project focuses on replacing and repairing deteriorating parts of the Art Deco icon. Things like the heating and air conditioning. The roof, too.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t already noticeable improvements at the home of the Cincinnati Museum Center.

See how the limestone on the front sparkles? That’s been repaired and cleaned during the first half of the $212.7 million project, mostly funded by a voter-approved Hamilton County sales tax.

The facade was the first stop on a behind-the-scenes look Thursday at the ongoing construction, slated to take place through October 2018.

#6 Bruce and MarySue’s Thoughts and Adventures,More info:bruceandmarysue.blogspot

This huge structure whose rotunda is the largest half dome in the United States was begun in 1929 in an effort to combine the five separate railroad stations in Cincinnati into one Union Terminal. It was completed in the year 1933 just as railroad travel was beginning to decline because of the increased utilization of automobile and airline travel. That decline in railroad travel gave rise to the use of the opening quote attributed to Mark Twain,

Train traffic increased for a brief time during World War II as railroads became the main means of military transport. But the end of the war in 1945 again reduced train travel to a mere trickle.

Fifteen local businesses were represented in the industrial mosaics designed and created by German American artist Winhold Reiss in the train concourse. Each mural is 22 feet high and 110 feet long.

#5 Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal entrance a shell of itself during renovations,More info:wcpo

#4 National eatery opens at Cincinnati Museum Center,More info:bizjournals

A cafe with at least 15 locations across the nation is opening its doors at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

Bean Sprouts cafe will debut inside Union Terminal, which recently reopened after a $228 million restoration, on Friday. The kid-friendly eatery that features healthy options in whimsical shapes and designs will be located just outside the Duke Energy Children’s Museum.

Among Bean Sprouts’ offerings are the Grilledzilla, a grilled cheese sandwich cut into a monster face, and Do-Re-For-Me, a sunflower butter and organic jam sandwich cut and styled into the shape of piano keys. Other options include sandwiches, soups, pizza and treats such as organic ice cream and frozen fruit bars.

Bean Sprouts was founded by Shannon Seip and Kelly Parthen and has opened in museums, zoos and aquariums across the country.