Grand Canyon National Park Watchtower Kiva Room

"When you walk in that space now you're experiencing what Mary Colter intended you to have the experience be," Pidgeon said. "In terms of being a space where you encounter the view through the windows and stop and rest and sort of contemplate that view, that's an experience. Basically we are trying to restore an experience." - Grand Canyon National historical architect, Elizabeth Pidgeon.

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 Colter’s design takes its influences from the architecture of the ancestral Puebloan people of the Colorado Plateau. She collaborated on the design with Native American artisans of the time, including well-known Hopi artist Fred Kabotie whose murals adorn much of the second level of the tower.