Cincinnati Union Terminal

      Union Terminal was completed on March 31, 1933 and is an excellent example of art deco style. It is a 10 story, half dome building constructed of limestone. The iconic architecture of this building has possibly influenced shows like The Super Friends and their Hall of Justice.

The architects of the building, New York-based Fellheimer and Wagner, were highly recognized for their work on other train stations in the 1920s. Union station is the only building of half dome construction in the western hemisphere as well as the largest of its kind when it was constructed.
      On the inside of the inside of the terminal are two, twenty two feet high by 110 feet long murals painted by German artist Winold Reiss. The murals depict the history of Cincinnati in the entryway, there are eighteen total murals though out the terminal. The murals took the better of two year to complete.
      When the building fell into disrepair fourteen of the murals were removed from the terminal and placed on display in the Cincinnati/North Kentucky Airport. There was only one mural which was not preserved, this mural was a world map.
     During the height of the terminal two hundred and sixteen trains coming through Union station daily. The terminal started to decline in the 1950s. The Amtrack station was ultimately the final nail in the coffin for Union Terminal. According to greatamericanstations.com, "By the first Amtrak train operations in 1971, service was reduced to just two trains a day, the George Washington and the James Whitcomb Riley. The terminal was abandoned for transportation purposes in 1972 in favor of a much smaller passenger rail station built by Amtrak on the city’s riverfront (now demolished)."
      In the 1970s there was discussion about tearing down the terminal due to disrepair. However, due to the extremely high coast of tearing down the building the options was presented for adaptive use of the building. After several failed projects and monetary campaigns the Terminal was transformed into the Cincinnati Museum Center in 1986.
      Now the terminal houses several entities under the Cincinnati Museum Center, including Duke Energy Children's Museum, Cincinnati History Museum and the Museum of Natural History and Science.  This building shows how an iconic landmark can be saved by adaptive reuse and continue to be a part of Cincinnati's local history.

Sources: http://www.greatamericanstations.com/Stations/CIN
http://www.cincymuseum.org/union-terminal