The Gander International Lounge has officially become a historic destination with the help of Heritage NL.
Rachel Elliott
Kicker
Known as the “Crossroads of the World”, Gander International Airport has been a significant landmark for residents and travellers for decades. The historic pieces and stories associated with its international lounge have been a huge part of that legacy since Queen Elizabeth II opened the lounge in 1959.
The airport and Heritage NL have worked together to make it an official historic site.
Heritage NL is a corporation that protects the historic heritage of buildings in Newfoundland and Labrador. It has a designation process whereby places in the province can be recognized and registered as historic buildings. They also give advice when it comes to maintaining the buildings to keep them preserved.
Lisa Daly is an aviation archeologist, as well as a board member and former chair of Heritage NL. She did her thesis work in Gander, exploring the material remains of some plane crashes in the area. She said the airport lounge is “certainly an interesting one” because of its interior. It’s the first time it has designated the interior of a building, rather than the exterior.
“It’s out of a movie set,” Daly said. “You know, it’s just so picturesque from that period, where flying was this very elite thing.”
Daly said Heritage NL has been working with Gander Airport for a few years, discussing what they were looking for in terms of the designation process. The airport reached out to Heritage NL several years back before Daly was chair of the corporation, and she then further discussed options with them in October 2021.
In 2014, the lounge was on the National Trust list of structures at risk, due to lack of money and reduced passenger traffic at the airport during the time. Daly said the lounge’s new designation as a registered historic site brings hope and gives encouragement for property owners to try to maintain the space.
“It’s still usable, but the space is preserved so that it can continue to be preserved for the community and the province as a whole,” Daly said.
Stephanie Power, chairperson of the International Lounge Foundation, spoke passionately about the historical value of the lounge. She talked about pieces such as furniture made by mid-century designers, the terrazzo tile flooring from Italy, and an Arthur Price sculpture called The Birds of Welcome that has been there since 1958.
“It’s such an honour” to have the lounge be so historically valuable,” Power said.
After reopening the lounge after restoration in June 2022 and establishing the International Lounge Foundation in January 2023, Power said making the lounge a registered historic site was a goal the foundation set for itself from the beginning.
“I think, for quite a while, that we have a very special thing here in the international lounge,” Power said.
Power said the lounge is a unique tourist site that differs from the typical whales and icebergs that most people think of when visiting Newfoundland and Labrador.
“This is not that. It is quite different from that,” Power said. “That’s what makes our space unique and special.”
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