Time Capsule

The first time I saw Gander International Airport’s mid-century modern lounge was in 2017, when security guard Jerry Cramm unlocked the door and let me in. He affectionately called the shuttered space — with its bold geometric terrazzo floor and vintage furniture — “no man’s land” and told stories about visits from Queen Elizabeth II and Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The lounge was on the National Trust for Canada’s Endangered Places List and scheduled for demolition.

Now look at it.

Since being restored and reopened to the public in 2022, the lounge has drawn 100,000 visitors and sparked the creation of the non-profit International Lounge Foundation that conserves, curates and celebrates the airport’s built heritage and legacy.

“This was built as a place to welcome the world,” says Diane Davis, who has shown the lounge to thousands of visitors. “I refer to it as my living room, and the connections made with people expand my knowledge and pride of place.”

The retired teacher helped inspire the Beulah Davis character in the Broadway musical Come From Away, about how this town in Newfoundland and Labrador sheltered 7,000 stranded passengers and crew from 38 aircraft after the 9/11 terrorist attacks closed U.S. airspace.

“I’ve made friends in that room, shared tears and stories around the Sept. 11 experiences, and held a firefighter from Cincinnati who wept after,” says Davis. “Many are here seeking a gentler place. The international lounge can be that.”

The strategically located airport, opened in 1938, was a military airfield during the Second World War and became one of the world’s busiest international airports by the 1950s. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, and a decade later, the Queen opened Gander’s chic new terminal to give, as airport signage explains, the rich and famous “a no-fuss yet luxurious welcome mat to Canada” while offering locals “a glimpse into the glamorous new world of transatlantic air travel.”

The International Departures Lounge was the centrepiece, with its mammoth mural depicting human figures in various stages of flight amid Canadian flora and fauna, a geometric floor and stylish furniture by such renowned Canadian and global designers as Robin Bush, Jacques Guillon, Arne Jacobsen, and Charles and Ray Eames.

Locals like Rhonda Lane, who now does airport tours, came to hobnob with celebrities. “I remember visiting the airport as a child because it was a place to go in Gander — and there was ice cream,” she recalls. “Because the airport has always attracted diverse air traffic for varying reasons, there are just so many interesting stories in those walls.”

But air traffic began to plummet in the 1960s, once jets could fly across the North Atlantic without having to refuel in Gander. The lounge was sealed off instead of being modernized, and the airport announced in 2014 that the terminal would be demolished and replaced with a smaller, greener building.

The National Trust immediately put “the most important modernist room in Canada” on its list of the top 10 endangered places, and the media pounced on the story. Luckily, tourism was starting to rebound, thanks in part to Come From Away and the international allure of the nearby Fogo Island Inn.

With a $1.5-million refresh, the lounge that once hosted the likes of Liz Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra reopened three years ago as a public space and community hub. The original furniture and colour scheme have been lovingly restored. There’s a locally minded gift shop, theatre and art gallery on the ground floor and airport history exhibits up a grand staircase on the mezzanine level.

“Don’t forget to see the beauty underfoot,” the airport has said on Facebook, urging visitors to admire the floor that’s reminiscent of abstract art pioneer Piet Mondrian’s paintings. “Terrazzo is about taking broken pieces and what’s left behind to create something new, beautiful and resilient. It’s the power of reinvention, laid flat.”

I adore the reinvented lounge, where you can buy a beer, ice cream and sometimes theatre concessions, and mingle with bus tours and Come From Away fans in town for the play. The province’s first escalator (with gorgeous wood panelling) and iconic wall clocks set in different time zones are stunning. “Talking wall” portraits of notable Ganderites include Cramm, the “security guard, ambassador and tour guide extraordinaire.”

The women’s washroom preserves the   spot where the Queen once powdered her nose. There’s a photo of Castro sledding in town during a stopover. One display details how people on communist airlines once got Pepsi vouchers so they would reboard and not defect. The most sobering thing here, though, is a steel beam from the World Trade Center that acknowledges “the profound humanitarian role” the airport and people of Gander played after 9/11.

I’ve learned that it’s good luck to rub the heads of the Birds of Welcome, a metal sculpture by artist Art Price. And I’m still unpacking all the symbolism in Kenneth Lochhead’s 22-metre-long mural, Flight and Its Allegories, that evokes our feelings about flying.

When you enter the lounge, be sure to fill out the top of a “boarding pass” with your favourite travel memory and dream destination. Instead of handing it to a flight attendant, hang it on the wall at “Gate 20-32” and keep the bottom part — with a vintage photo of glamorous passengers riding that wood-panelled escalator — as a souvenir.

IF YOU GO

GETTING THERE: Gander International Airport is 3½ hours west of St. John’s or three hours east of Deer Lake. The international lounge is before security and usually open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

EAT AND DRINK: Union East & Drinks is in the airport, but it’s a quick drive to Jumping Bean Coffee, Rosie’s Restaurant & Bakery for Newfoundland fare, the Gander Bread Box for soups and sandwiches, and Bistro on Roe for creative dinners.

EXPLORE: Hare Bay Adventures leads Come From Away driving tours through Gander and nearby communities. Gander is a jumping off point for Fogo Island and Twillingate (part of Iceberg Alley), and home to the North Atlantic Aviation Museum, which has a piece of World Trade Center steel.