Winold Reiss Mosaics

Cincinnati Union Terminal was built in the Art Deco style in 1933 by the firm of Fellheimer & Wagner. Fellheimer was the lead architect for Grand Central Terminal and Buffalo Central Terminal. For almost 40 years, Union Terminal provided rail services to both passenger and freight lines. Union Terminal was later turned into a mixed-use facility, housing the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, Museum of Natural History and Science, and the Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater. It became listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and then designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

Starting in 2016 and for the duration ot two years, the Cincinnati Union Terminal was completely restored back to its original 1933 condition. EverGreene was engaged to conduct a comprehensive conditions assessment and to consequentially restor eight, monumental WPA-era glass mosaics designed by Winold Reiss. The two largest panels were 22′ x 110′ in size. In addition, 14 mosaics and cementitious plaster murals by the same artist were salvaged, conserved, and relocated to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport for permanent display.

The murals depicting the history of Cincinnati, the construction of Union Terminal, as well as the various industries located in the area. Treatment for these iconic mosaics included surface cleaning, patching and repairing of the tinted mortar, and readhering and replacing missing tesserae.