Archerfield Airport Terminal Claimed

The current Art Deco era Terminal Building was originally the Archerfield Airport Control Tower as well. The glass structure at the top of the building, erected by the US Army Air Force in 1941, has today been removed and the operational Tower is now located on the south-western flank of the airport.

The Terminal Building/Control Tower and many buildings at Archerfield were constructed during the airport's heyday years from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. This was the era in which Archerfield was Brisbane's major airport and it also served as a wartime air base.

Although designed in 1936, the Terminal Building and Control Tower was not completed until 1941, when it was warranted for World War II duties with the Royal Australian Air Force, the US Army Air Force and the Royal Netherlands Air Force, among others. The entire building that today serves as Archerfield Airport's Administration Building was built at a cost of  £15,000 then. Today it houses the Archerfield Airport Corporation administration.

Today the building not only has it heritage preserved, its atmospheric meeting rooms in which air force commanders planned their defence strategies are also a great location for business events and conferences.

The Terminal Building is also a regular star in locally-made television series, such as 'Harrow', and often features in movies charting the 1930s and 1940s, making the most of its glamorous art deco styling.

It is also a regular star in fashion shoots.

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More on the Airport Administration and Terminal Building (28)

THE Airport Administration and Terminal Building dates back to the 1940s and after a period when it was in disrepair, is once again used as the administrative headquarters for the airport, and as the airport terminal. Archerfield Airport Corporation (AAC) owns the building today.

Plans for the Terminal Building were first drawn up in 1936, but construction did not commence until 1941. The Terminal housed the airline companies, the Civil Aviation Department, the Flight Checking Department, the weather bureau and Airport control officials.

A control tower was previously located on the top of the building but has since been dismantled. This building housed the first meteorological, Aeradio, and air traffic control facilities in South East Queensland and provided necessary passenger terminal facilities for Brisbane until 1949. In 1949 the Royal Queensland Aero Club used part of the ground floor for its offices.

In the 1970s through to 1999 the parts of the building continued to be used by civil aviation administrators. The Airport Administration functions were relocated to Building 20 under the Federal Airports Corporation and Building 28 was not used for airport administration for a number of years until Archerfield Airport Corporation bought and restored it from 2009 – 2015.

Building 28 is a substantial, three storey structure. It is a standalone, landmark building, sited at the western end of the Grenier Drive loop, and frames the western side to Archerfield Square. It is built to the site boundaries.

It has a broad ground floor, aligned north-south, and stepped upper floors. The upper floor setbacks are more substantial on the north and south elevations. Earlier in its history, the building had an additional level which was used as the airport control tower. This was removed when the current tower was commissioned in the Beaufighter Precinct in the 1970s.

The building is of rendered brick construction, in the interwar Functionalist style of architecture (i.e., streamlined detailing, geometric form, symmetrical elevations).

The elevations of the original part of the building are symmetrical. The ground floor has been extended to the south. The design of the extension is simple, and follows the features of the original building including the brick base, rendered walls and parapet to the flat roof.

The building is constructed from brick and concrete (the majority of the walls are rendered), with metal framed windows and sections of exposed brickwork. In the west elevation (facing the taxiways and aprons), there is a prominent curved bay window, a centrally located clock and winged badges.

Exposed brickwork runs around the base of the building as a decorative feature. It forms a base to the ground floor bay windows in the west (airside) elevation, and covers the central part of the ground floor elevation and main pedestrian entry doors, facing Grenier Drive.

The building has flat roofs, with parapets at first and second floor levels, and an observation deck on the roof, secured by a metal railing and accessed via an external staircase on the north side. Although some original window fabric has been replaced with aluminium frames, the control tower has been removed, and the building has been repainted, much of the exterior features remain largely intact.

The interior of the building however as had alteration and change on each level since the 1950s (though some original features and elements remain within, including the women’s toilet facilities on the ground floor).

The alterations that have occurred since the 1950s, internally and externally, have low to no heritage significance. Building 28 relates to phase 3 of the airport, and has been assessed as having a ‘high’ condition score, ‘high’ heritage value, and ‘high’ integrity.

AAC has over the past 24 years spent more than $3.8 million on heritage conservation initiatives at Archerfield. This includes purchase of the historic Administration and Terminal Building (28), restoration of the former Shell Building, refurbishment of the ground, first and second levels of the Administration and Terminal Building in 2009 and 2015, and repainting the exterior walls and waterproofing the external surfaces. The upper floors of the building are now used for airport administration and offices, and the ground floor is once again used as a terminal.

In 2022 AAC established the Airport History Room in building 28. The History Room is the home to an evolving archive of records and memorabilia about the history of the airport, and interpretative materials. It is the base for preparation of interpretative displays, and a place for research to be undertaken.

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