The Capilano Air Park

From Vancouver Exposed: Searching for the City’s Hidden History

A few people that I know have sold their large houses and downsized to Norgate, one of the few flat areas of North Vancouver just to the east of the Lions Gate Bridge. Norgate is also one of the few areas that hasn’t seen massive change to its housing stock—a collection of modest-sized, tidy mid-century ranchers with big gardens. And that’s exactly the appeal to those not willing to settle for a condo or multi-floored townhouse with strata fees and councils attached.

And, as it turns out, Norgate has a really interesting history—the area was originally planned to be the Capilano Air Park.

According to the North Vancouver Museum and Archive’s March 2006 Express, the new airfield was first proposed in 1945, and designed to cater to tourists flying their own planes from other parts of Canada and the U.S. Plans were to have two runways— the first, a 3,000-foot landing strip for light aircraft and another 2,500-foot runway for heavier craft to be added later. Construction was supposed to start in 1947 and include luxury accommodation for the “flying tourists.”

In the end, there weren’t enough funds available for an airfield and the land was sold to Hullah Construction to develop a subdivision. Company namesake, Norman Hullah, modeled Norgate after a typical California subdivision, building houses on a scale of 50 at a time and working out of a mill located in the area.