On September 10, 1968 the Vancouver International Airport opened a spanking new terminal building to handle all domestic, US and international flights. It was one of the few airports where aircraft could pull up to gates attached to the terminal and where passengers could load and unload via a bridge.
Designed by Zoltan Kiss:
The building was designed by Zoltan Kiss of Thompson Berwick Pratt, the firm that served as an incubator for such other up-and-comers as Arthur Erickson, Ron Thom, Barry Downs and Fred Hollingsworth and designed buildings such as the game-changing BC Electric building on Burrard Street in 1957.
The terminal had the modern design, clean lines and open spaces common to mid-century architecture at the time. It screamed jet-setting technology and speedy travel.
New terminal:
If you’ve taken a plane from Vancouver to any other point in Canada—you’ve walked through this terminal. You’ve also likely noticed the two large air-intake towers that flank it. These concrete towers were an engineering feat back in 1968 and replaced the old system which had the air intake in the roof. When the wind would blow the wrong way, employees and passengers would complain about the overpowering smell of aviation fuel.
“I remember how large and modern it was compared to the old (now South) terminals,” says Angus McIntyre. “You could drive your car up to the departure level, park and pay 25 cents at a meter. Hah!”
Opened in 1931:
YVR officially opened in 1931 when the City of Vancouver invested $600,000 in a runway and a small wood framed building topped by a control tower after US aviator Charles Lindbergh refused to visit because there was “nothing fit to land on.”
Big changes happened in the 1960s after the City sold the Airport to the Department of Transport. By 1968 the airport sat on more than 4,000 acres of land, and the terminal building, which cost $32 million, served close to two million passengers in its first year of operation.
Half a century later, more than 24 million passengers pass through YVR each year.
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9 comments on “YVR: A Short History”
I have never been a fan of flying but Ive always loved the airport. In the early 70s I drove truck for CP Transport and it had a working relationship with CP Air. Over the years I delivered air cargo but my favorite times involved delivering baggage handling equipment to the main terminal. This involved driving a transport truck out onto the main area right beside the airliners. Another time I had to load baggage handling equipment onto a truck to deliver to Abby airport to service planes diverted due to fog.
There’s still a lot of aggrieved former residents of Cora Brown subdivision along with nearby Sea Island farming families whose properties were expropriated for airport expansion. Some of that expansion never happened making their dislocation even more painful in retrospect.
On a happier note, I was 14 when the new airport opened. It sure seemed spiffy and oh-so-modern compared to the old facility that was renamed, I believe, the South Airport for prop planes. That old airport was like a drab Greyhound bus terminal in comparison to the new 1968 YVR.
As a passenger, I took a couple of flights with my widowed mother to visit relatives in 1969. My first experience in the arrivals terminal was waiting with other fans to welcome back rock band Chilliwack from their gigs representing Canada at the Osaka World Exposition in 1970. Two years earlier, the band was known as The Collectors…but changed names after losing its lead vocalist.
The Trudeau government commissioned The Collectors to write and record ‘atmospheric’ background music for visitors walking through the Canadian Pavilion at the Osaka Expo. Five Collectors were in on the music’s creation. Only three were in the version of successor band Chilliwack which performed concerts of actual songs during the exposition.
But I digress…the YVR of those days was, of course, superseded by the one we enjoy today. I still get chills every time I pass through, to and from Victoria, and admire Bill Reid’s enduring creation. Shortly before Bill Reid’s death, I saw him at the airport. My instinct was to thank him for helping turn the airport into–in my continuing opinion–a world class facility. But he was deep in conversation with somebody. And I didn’t want to intrude.
Thanks so much Richard for your post. I bet you wish you’d spoken to Bill Reid now!
Your photos and comments brought back some memories for me.
I started work with CPA, as a Station Attendant, at the new terminal on Friday, September 13, 1968. I slept in on my first day of work!
Station Attendants loaded and unloaded baggage and freight from the aircraft, drove the stairs up the DC6B, delivered freight to and from the South Terminal and mail to the post office on Sea Island.
Working at CPA, at this time, was like being in the military. No facial hair, no side burns and hair had to be above the ears. I recall the guys working at Air Canada on the ramp were allowed long hair and full beards. I remember one fellow having not being allowed to work until he shaved off his side burns!
The 737 in the new colours started to arrive in early 1969. I always liked the old colours with the goose better.
I’ll be 71 years old in a couple of weeks! Where did the time go?
Hello Eve, I’m writing to you, wearing another hat, as President of the Sea Island Heritage Society. We would like permission to use the photos posted on this September 8, 2018 blog. The first/top photo, especially, brings back so many memories, as I grew up in the Cora Brown subdivision, and, as a young teenager, used to ride my bike in and around the construction of the ‘new’ terminal. Then, many years later, when working for Canadian Airlines, one of my jobs was to drive on the tarmac from the Canadian Operations Centre out to the airside of the terminal to update the manuals on the aircraft. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards, Eunice Robinson (President, BCGS & President, Sea Island Heritage Society)
I remember. In 1946 my dad renting a small Cessna at the original airport at Vancouver U Fly.. and flying around the city… I was 5 years old…..Dad eventually bought a 172 Cessna…on floats. We had great times.
I served as a Civil Aviation Inspector at the airport in the early 90s. My office overlooked the runways and was located on the second floor of the weather office building near the South Terminal. My duties included driving airside anywhere on the airport This required a special drivers licence for which I had to pass an exam and a driving test. I recall having to memorize every runway, taxiway, every airport access gate, every building on the airport, all the arrival and departure gates etc. The pass mark was 100%. Yes, these were exciting times.
What a great job!
During the transition to the new (1968) terminal, was that facility on the North side of the road at 6001 Grant McConachie Way used for passenger operations? Ever?