In March 1936, laborers under the Hubei Provincial Construction Department laid the foundations of the Wuchang Nanhu Airport. Today, a single three-story building with a bright yellow exterior remains at No. 75–77 Heng'an Road. This is the Former Command Center of Wuchang Nanhu Airport, the sole surviving structure of a massive 4,000-mu (approximately 267 hectares) airfield that once dominated the landscape.

Approach the semi-circular outer wall of the second floor. Here, the Chinese characters for "Wuhan" are written in clerical script. Local records traditionally attribute these brushstrokes to General Zhang Xueliang during his tenure as director of the Wuhan Headquarters. Below this curved facade, the ground floor once housed the passenger departure hall and waiting lounge, where travelers' footsteps once echoed.

The building survived multiple waves of destruction. On October 25, 1938, retreating Chinese forces blew up the airfield to prevent its capture during the Battle of Wuhan. Japanese forces repaired the site, but tensions persisted. On January 19, 1939, mutinous Japanese ground crew members set fire to thirteen bombers and an oil depot, filling the sky with thick black smoke.

After 1949, the military base transitioned to civil aviation. Premier Zhou Enlai once dined in the airport cafeteria, sharing tables with ordinary staff and travelers. By the 1980s, passenger numbers surged, though the short 1,812-meter runway forced larger planes to reduce their payloads. On April 14, 1995, the final commercial flight landed, and the airport closed the following day, transferring its operations to Wuhan Tianhe International Airport.

The surrounding runways were built over to create the Nanhu Garden residential complex. The main runway became Heng'an Road, where local elders still marvel at how the thick concrete resists the wear of heavy traffic. Today, the 800-square-meter structure serves as the Bao'an Community Party and Mass Service Center. It also houses a Red Cross safety training base, where residents learn first aid in the very rooms where air traffic controllers once guided planes through the skies of central China.