Desert View Watchtower

The most dramatic building in the national park, designed by architect Mary Colter in 1932 and built at the eastern terminus of Desert View Drive, 40 km east of Grand Canyon Village. The 21-metre (70 ft) stone tower was modeled on Ancestral Puebloan watchtowers and offers panoramic views over the canyon, the Colorado River, and the Painted Desert stretching east into Navajo Nation.

Inside, Hopi paintings by Fred Kabotie cover the walls of the lower rooms. A spiral staircase climbs through the levels to the top. There is also a gift shop and petrol station at the complex. The views from the top are exceptional and different from those near the village — the river is visible in the canyon below, and you look back west along the full length of the South Rim. Free admission.

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A story
Mary Colter, the architect who designed the watchtower and several other Grand Canyon buildings, was ahead of her time in insisting that the structures blend with the landscape rather than impose upon it. She spent months studying Ancestral Puebloan ruins before designing the tower, and brought in Hopi artist Fred Kabotie to paint the interior with traditional imagery. Colter was one of the few women architects working for a major corporation in early 20th-century America, and her buildings at the Grand Canyon are now considered National Historic Landmarks.