Cincinnati Union Terminal’s most striking architectural feature was its main waiting room. Constructed in the shape of a quarter sphere, the room had a curved ceiling and a flat east wall; the ceiling was banded ornamental plaster painted in yellow, orange, and silver, with dramatic lighting and an otherworldly feel—hardly the typical railroad station familiar to most travelers in 1933. It was at its finest at night. In mid-1972 the waiting room looked much as it always had, save for the absence of passengers. (Jeffrey T. Darbee)