Buildings

G.W. Gouinlock designed the Transportation Building to take advantage of natural lighting. Sky lights abounded and massive windows lined the perimeter of the building ensuring well-lit exhibits and excellent air circulation. The building was also designed to display the newest modes of transportation which, at that time, included cars, boats and aeroplanes.

The Transportation Building was constructed primarily of brick while the roof was carried on arched steel girders. Most of the architectural detailing, including the columned porticos at either end of the building and on the east and west sides, was carried out in cast artificial stone (concrete). Dimensions of the building were: one storey, 324 feet long and 130 feet wide.

In 1938, the most important architectural development to take place at the CNE was the transformation of the Transportation Building. That year, it became the United Kingdom Government Pavilion. The building itself was completely surrounded by a false facade. The 1938 program described the result:

"The exterior treatment involved the construction of a complete shell about the building to provide unbroken lines and wide white surfaces most suitable for producing floodlighting effects.
(1938 Program, CNE Archives)

Generally, the facade echoed the clean and reaching lines of art-deco design, a style already reaching the end of its short, but interesting, lifespan.

The Transportation Building served many different roles during its lifetime. For example, in the 1970s it was renamed the International Building and housed exhibits from around the world. It was destroyed by fire in 1974.

CNE Archives