Airport House, Purley Way was built in 1926-1928. London Croydon Airport housed the world's first international terminal, from the earliest days of air transport until it closed in 1959. A landmark building it was designed around the flow of passengers through an airport and integrated airport handling processes sequentially.

It was from here that Amy Johnson made her famous solo flight to Darwin, Australia in 1930. On her return to Croydon tens of thousands of people lined Purley Way to welcome her back.

Originally the aerodrome was dissected by a country road, Plough Lane, where traffic was from time to time held up while aircraft were towed across by tractors. This road was closed and levelled as part of the expansion of the new airport buildings opened in 1928 which were built in a restrained Neo-Classical style, suggestive of the steam ship terminals that were popular at the time.

At the outbreak of World War II the airport closed to commercial traffic and it became a designated RAF airfield, RAF Croydon. It was here Fighter Command fought the Battle of Britain and later Transport Command operated Dakotas to Europe. In the post-war years small airlines such as Olley Air Service and Transair continued to operate from the airfield until its closure in 1959.

Responsible for a number of major technical innovations, such as early aerial direction finding by radio, runway marker lines,a through baggage hall and the operating base for Britain's first national airline, Imperial Airways, it is now open as a visitor centre for air travel.