What is The Concourse

The Concourse was part of Union Terminal train station that extended out and over the railroad tracks. Now demolished, The Concourse was adorned in art deco tile, giant Rinold Weiss tile mosaics colored the walls from head height to ceiling. 

The Concourse was grand like the Union Terminal

• Marble everything
• Tile mosaics
• Grand clock
• Leather upholstered individual seats
• Art Deco lighting and fonts
• Sky high cieling

Rinold Weiss Mosaics in The Concourse at Union Terminal

11 massive mosaics climbed the walls of The Concourse at Union Terminal. Like the giant murals towering over us in the half dome at Union Terminal, the tile mosaics extended through the terminal and through The Concourse.

Rinold Weiss Murals at Union Terminal Concourse

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Unfortunately, The Globe tile mosaic could not be saved when the Concourse was demolished in 1972. The Concourse clock is saved, but The Globe mural is not.

Fortunately, the murals that lined the giant walls of The Concourse were saved; that is what this article is about: The Concourse murals, what happened to them, and where they are now.  

What was The Concourse

The Concourse was the part of Union Terminal that extended out and over the railroad tracks, containing rows of numbered boarding sections waiting areas adorned in art deco tile, giant tile mosaics colored the walls from head height to ceiling.

The picture below looks into The Concourse, the giant hallway, the first transportation terminal.  

The best representation of what The Concourse looked like is renderings by David Lombardi, published here: https://www.lombardi.work/ut-cgi
You must check out the David Lombardi link and view his renderings of The Concourse.

The picture below was provided by the Cincinnati Museum Center. The Concourse visible in the background.

Kinetic Vision of Cincinnati used David Lombardi's images to create a stunning virtual walktrhrough of the Concourse. If you ever get a chance to put on a headset and experience the Concourse this way, do it. 




The Giant Tile Mosaics of The Concourse

Cincinnati has a strong sense of preservation. How the tile mosaics were saved is a story I would like to hear. I can tell where they went, and where they are now, but how they were really saved, how the clock was saved, I would love to learn.

The tile mosaics were removed from The Concourse just before demolition. The walls they were built into were framed in steel and moved. They were first moved to the Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky Airport were they stayed on display until 2016. With the future of the airport changing as Delta reconfigured the local Cincinnati Government and others moved The Concourse Murals from the airport to the downtown Cincinnati convention Center on Central Parkway. 

This is where they are today

The Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio, was described as the Art Deco Temple of Transportation when it opened in 1933. Upon entering the traveler is greated by an awe inspring giant half dome covered in mosaic tile art by Winold Reiss. 

Reiss' mosaic tile art leads the traveler through the station, via a mezzanine, to The Concourse. The Concourse at Union Terminal extended over the railroad tracks behind the Union Terminal. A ceiling in the sky, the grand hallways, leather upholstered seats sat in marble luxurious walls with fountains built into them. Giant windows reached to the sky, shining light on Winold Reiss murals extending all the way through The Concourse. 

The one mural not saved when The Concourse was demolished in 1972 was the grandest of them all: the Globe. The Globe mural was just that, a mosaic mural of the globe along the back wall of the Concourse. This mosaic, sadly, was not saved, so it was destroyed. But many of Winold Reiss' mosaics in The Concourse were saved.

The picture below is a real photo of The Concourse at Union Terminal, taken and hand-colored by Fortune Magazine in 1933, showing The Globe mosaic at the back of The Concourse. On the left of the image, you can see one of the giant mosaics shown below looming large on the wall. Winold Reiss' Mosaic Murals lined both sides of the vertical walls of The Concourse. 

This article contains pictures of the mosaics that were in The Concourse at Union Terminal in Cincinnati. They were saved in 1972 when the Concourse was torn down; initially stored and displayed at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport, they were moved to the back wall of the Convention Center in 2016. 

There are thick glass panes in front of the mosaics. Short of having a day where the glass is removed so we can shoot photos, I apologize, there are reflections for the sky in the glass panes that distort the view of the mosaics in photos.

Here are some of the saved Winold Reiss mosaics that lined the walls of The Concourse at Union Terminal until The Concourse was demolished in 1972 to make way for higher, double-stacked train cars that could not pass under The Concourse.

Exploring the Cincinnati Convention Center

The renovated Cincinnati Convention Center is worth checking out. 

The newly renovated First Financial Convention Center added vast spaces outside of the main convention hall, naturally lit up by the exterior made of mostly glass. Explore the floors and make it up to the top-most Western wall for the best view and chill area to get work done. Electric hookups are everywhere for cool private spots to get work done or take a respite from a convention.

There is a secret beauty to the Convention Center that you must check out. To see the secret beauty of the First Financial Convention Center, either go through the Convention Center to the back door, Central Ave exit, or go around the 5th street side of the Convention Center to the back of the Convention Center along Central Ave; there you will find the Winold Reiss original Mosaics that hung in The Concourse of the Union Terminal. They are amazing to see up close.

For a description of the Winold Reiss mosaics, here is a cool FB post from The Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/193TWHY19D/

Resources:
https://www.cincymuseum.org/art-of-union-terminal/
and growing up and living in Cincinnati.


Now for the Murals in the daytime with the sun hitting them. When the sun hits the murals, they sparkle like golden glitter. The glass tiles have an uneven surface that refracts sunlight, scattering it in patterns. It's neat to see. The only way the artists would have planned for sunlight was through the giant open windows in The Concourse at Union Terminal.