The Mary Jane Colter Buildings are four structures at

Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often consider ...

Mary Colter Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

. Built between 1905 and 1932, the four buildings ( Hermits Rest (1914),

Desert View Watchtower Desert View Watchtower, also known as the Indian Watchtower at Desert View, is a -high stone building located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon within Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, United States. The tower is located at Desert View, ...

(1932), Lookout Studio (1914), and

Hopi House Hopi House is located on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, within Grand Canyon National Park in the U.S. state of Arizona. Built in 1904 as concessioner facilities at the South Rim were being developed, it is the first of eight projects at the G ...

(1905)) are among the best examples of Colter's work, and were influential in the development of an aesthetic for architecture to be used in America's National Park System. As a set, they were declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1987. and

Description and significance

Desert View Watchtower - Desert View, AZ

Hopi House and the Lookout Studio are located in the Grand Canyon Village, a National Historic Landmark district comprising the core of the densest development in the park. Hermit's Rest is located at the end of the paved road a few miles to the west of Grand Canyon Village. The Desert View Watchtower is the center of the Desert View visitor services area, about to the east of Grand Canyon Village, and is itself encompassed by the Desert View Watchtower Historic District. All four buildings were originally built by the

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...

, and were managed by the railroad's concessionaire, the

Fred Harvey Company The Fred Harvey Company was the owner of the Harvey House chain of restaurants, hotels and other hospitality industry businesses alongside railroads in the Western United States. It was founded in 1876 by Fred Harvey to cater to the growing n ...

. Mary Colter's designs were influenced in part by the many ancient ruins of the American Southwest, as exemplified in Hopi House and the Desert View Watchtower, both of which resulted from her study of existing structures and ruins. Hopi House is a modern take on a dwelling of the

Hopi people The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the United ...

, while the tower borrows architecturally from a variety of ruins. The tower's interior also includes reproductions of rock art from a site that has since been destroyed. The Hermit's Rest and Lookout Studio, in contrast, were designed to fit organically into their surrounding landscape, a technique which would be adopted by other architects working on projects for the National Park Service.

References

External links

National Park Service.gov: Architecture in the Parks, A National Historic Landmark Theme Study: M.E.J. Colter Buildings
by Laura Soullière Harrison, 1986.
Official Grand Canyon National Park website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colter, Mary Jane Buildings and structures in Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon history Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Coconino County, Arizona National Historic Landmarks in Arizona National Historic Landmark Districts Pueblo Revival architecture in Arizona American Craftsman architecture in Arizona Arts and Crafts architecture in Arizona Rustic architecture in Arizona Rustic style architects Spanish Colonial Revival architects Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arizona National Register of Historic Places in Grand Canyon National Park

Description and significance

See also

References

External links