A piece of history that’s been hidden away for over a hundred years was revealed recently as Rhinegeist Brewery works on renovations to its building’s façade.
Rhinegeist is housed in the former bottling plant of the pre-Prohibition Christian Moerlein brewery on Elm Street in Over-the-Rhine (OTR). The brewery says that while the historic building features a number of unique architectural features, they weren’t expecting to uncover a well-preserved, early-20th-century encaustic tile mosaic during the rehab of the building. The mosaic had been covered by layers of paint for decades.
“We were cleaning the walls to prep for tuckpointing when some of the old, peeling paint came off,” Vince Vickers, superintendent at Buckeye Construction & Restoration, the company doing Rhinegeist’s renovation work, said in a press release. “Underneath, we noticed colors that looked like part of a drawing. We started pulling off more of the paint, and little by little, the century-old mural began to show itself — hidden in plain sight for decades.”
The creator of the mosaic mural, Herman Mueller, was a famed American ceramicist and the founder of the Mueller Mosaic Company in Trenton, New Jersey. His work can be seen in several museums along the East Coast, including the New Jersey State Museum, Newark Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian Institution and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“It’s not every day you get to open a time capsule into another era. Discoveries like this remind us why we love what we do — it’s truly what makes this work great,” said Brad Rogers, vice president of business development at Buckeye Construction & Restoration.
The colorful mural features the words “Moerlein’s Bottling Dept.” and “1896,” as well as a woman and a man with a hat. Rhinegeist CEO Adam Bankovich says the man’s hat features an interesting anomaly: the corner was installed 90 degrees in the wrong orientation.
“We brewed a pre-Prohibition-style lager to celebrate the mural’s discovery, and named it Tip of the Hat as a nod to this easter egg,” said Bankovich.
Tip of the Hat is available on draft in the Rhinegeist taproom for a limited time.
The discovery of the mural also follows the Brewing Heritage Trail’s September announcement of the American Museum of Brewing, a national museum to open in OTR in 2028 that will share the history of beer in the United States, as well as highlight OTR’s rich brewing heritage.
“The museum will be a great addition to the neighborhood, and visitors to the American Museum of Brewing will certainly want to work in a visit to the mural as well,” added Bankovich.
The mural is now available for the public to view. The brewery told CityBeat that its planned renovation won’t impact the mural and that it has been working with the Cincinnati Museum Center to get historical background and images of it from the time of its installation.
Rhinegeist, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. More info: rhinegeist.com.