Yukon Register of Historic PlacesYRHP

Watson Lake Air Terminal Building

Watson Lake Air Terminal Building

Watson Lake Air Terminal Building

The Watson Lake Air Terminal Building is typical in design and scale to other Northwest Staging Route air terminals at Teslin, Aishihik and Snag but has evolved over time with the use and growth of the Watson Lake Airport. It is a single storey building originally based on an ‘H’ shaped floor plan and constructed with logs sawn on three sides using butt and pass cornering. The building was extended to the east and a portion of the connecting link of the ‘H’ filled in utilizing similar materials and construction techniques. A five-storey control tower is centrally located on the airside (northern side) of the building. Medium pitched hip roofs cover the wings of the original ‘H’ plan with a gable roof over the connecting link. The hip roofs were extended to cover the additions in the east end and a flat roof was installed over the now enclosed void between the wings. Screened gable roofed ventilators are located on the roofs of the one storey sections of the building. Smaller gable roofs of varying pitches are found over the doors to the building. Historic windows have been replaced with fixed and awning wood sash windows irregularly located within the walls according to functional requirements. The original airside main entry to the building was altered from a single door enclosed in a porch to a larger vestibule with separate entry and exit doors. The groundside main entrance was expanded and relocated to the addition on the east end of the building. Single doors are located around the perimeter of the building as required for functional and egress purposes. A large overhead metal door providing access to the baggage area is located near the east end of the added space on the airside of the terminal.

The control tower is five stories in height including the ground floor and upper level control cab. Although the tower has been modified a number of times through the addition of floors and to the exterior cladding of the floors, it appears that the structural system originally employed has been continued through the additions. The tower is framed with heavy timbers above the ground floor and clad in wood drop siding. Trim is minimal and consists of painted window surrounds and corner boards. The top level (control cab) has continuous glazing on all walls to allow views in all directions. The windows in the south wall (groundside) are interrupted by a glazed door. The walls, including the windows, of the control cab level are angled outwards. This has resulted in the corner glazing having an irregular (trapezoidal) shape. A catwalk with an open metal railing encircles the building on the fourth floor. Antennae are visible on the roof and provide for the operational requirements of the airport. Each of the three mid-levels of the tower has three grouped 6/6 wood single hung windows cantered in the north and south walls. Solitary 6/6 wood single hung sash window are on the south side of the east and west walls on each of these floors. The airside (north) of the tower has large wooden letters announcing “Watson Lake” between the second and third floor windows.

The logs used in the walls of the ground floor carry up to the underside of the windows of the original tower and are corbelled on all sides of the tower to provide support (and possibly decoration) for a walkway around the second-floor level. The corbelled logs remain in place although the walkway was removed with the addition of new floor levels to the tower. The walls above this point appear to have always been frame, originally covered in log cabin siding or slabs.