esert View Watchtower, one of the most prominent architectural features on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park, is slated to undergo renovations over the next several months.

The Watchtower is located at Desert View, the eastern-most developed area on the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.  Recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the tower was constructed in 1932.  Architect Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter’s design takes its influences from the architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau.  She collaboratedon the design with Hope artisans of the day, including well-known Hopi artist Fred Kabotie whose murals adorn much of the second level of the tower.

Today, the 70-foot tower contains a gift store and its upper floors serve as observation decks where visitors from around the world enjoy magnificent
views of the canyon and the Painted Desert.  Seventy-eight years after it was constructed, the tower’s roof and windows leak and its mortar and many wood elements are deteriorating, threatening the integrity of the structure and damaging its famous murals.  As a result, Xanterra South Rim,
L.L.C.—the concessionaire that manages the gift store and maintains the Watchtower—will be undertaking a two phase renovation project.

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