Start with 85-year-old blueprints and design schematics. Find a few workmen or companies with knowledge of the original construction techniques. Then add modern technology to restore, refresh and upgrade the building without substantially changing its historic look.
That’s the formula for the $224 million renovation of Cincinnati Union Terminal, according to Cody Hefner, manager of media relations. The project is on schedule to be completed this fall, 2 ½ years after the renovation began.
“(Workmen) looked at blueprints and catalogues of the past,” Hefner said during a presentation to the Rotary Club of Florence. “They used modern technology to make sure we don’t have to come back in 20 or 30 years” for additional repairs.
Union Terminal opened as a passenger railroad station in 1933. It now houses the Museum of Natural History and Science, Cincinnati History Museum and Duke Energy Children’s Museum. The museum drew 1.4 million visitors a year before being closed for renovation, Hefner said.
He offered several examples of the combination of old techniques and new technology at the heart of the renovation project, headed by Turner Construction.
FOUNTAIN – Water was leaking from the fountain into the museums below, so construction crews had to tear out the existing structure. They installed a two-layer polurea waterproofing system, but initially struggled to replicate the terrazzo look of the original fountain, Hefner said.
“Terrazzo is not done much anymore,” he noted. However, they found an expert who had worked with the original builders and came up with a match. Workmen also re-installed 2,300 pieces of historic limestone in the precise locations from which they were removed.
CLOCK – The 14-foot clock on the façade no longer functioned effectively. When it stopped, Union Terminal employees had to wait to restart it until the next time it reached the time at which it stopped.
The Verdin Company updated the clockwork mechanism, refurbished the red neon hands and made sure “we don’t have to reset it every 12 hours,” Hefner said.
MURALS – The mosaic tiles were cleaned and repaired. Lose tile were stabilized with epoxy applied with needles, and missing tile were recreated by an Italian company.
LIGHTING – The original candlestick light fixtures were cleaned and repaired. Missing fixtures were reproduced from the original schematics.
WINDOWS – The same company that built the exterior windows repaired and replaced them with new windows constructed in the same plant as the originals in 1933.
The emphasis on preserving the original designs extended to the museums, Hefner said. For example, the children’s museum has been refreshed and spruced up a bit, but it looks much the same, according to Hefner.
“Kids like continuity,” he said. Just like the adults in charge in the Union Terminal renovation.
#FloRo #ServiceAboveSelf #PreservingthePast
