It is a monument to a time,
it’s monument to a people,
it’s a monument to a place.
And it also captures so much history
that is within the walls of the building.
The architecture itself,
the artwork that’s in there,
tell the history and story of place
and people and time.
It’s those things that make this place
so special for me,
and it makes is special for our visitors today.
My first impression of Desert View,
when I first moved here, was that
it was a beautiful, grand landscape.
And since I have spent some time here
and lived here for over four years,
it’s really shown me how beautiful
and special this place is in more than just views.
The Watchtower and the history behind it,
as well as Mary Colter’s history
is just really rich.
When Mary Colter decided to build
the watchtower here at Desert View,
she was challenged by trying to
come up what is the right form,
what is the right thing to have here
that was really meaningful,
that meant something to the land,
that had this great view.
It is the view that you can’t build upon.
What she did here is she allowed visitors
to go a little higher so they can see
everything unobstructed.
The Ancestral Puebloans
thrived at the Grand Canyon
over eight hundred years ago
as well as around the Southwest
and built homes and stone towers in places
that we now know as Mesa Verde National Park
and Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
To be honest, as an archeologist,
I can say that a lot of people are
still wondering exactly what these things are.
They were build pre-historically
somewhere: 1200 – 1300 AD.
Their function is debated
amongst archeologists even today.
That's one of the reasons why Colter
wanted to create this Watchtower
here at the rim of Grand Canyon
because it is a form, it’s a function,
it’s a proportion - that is very evocative
of what the prehistoric peoples were building
and how they were using these lands
a thousand years ago.
Mary Colter was interior designer
and architect working for
the Fred Harvey Company in the early 1900’s.
Her history goes back to being
an artist and an art teacher.
and she designed many structures
along the Santa Fe Railroad,
including many structures
here at Grand Canyon, both on the South Rim
and down at Phantom Ranch.
She was definitely ahead of her time,
in the early 1900’s ,working in a man's field.
She was very independent,
very strong willed, and it was very rare
to see a woman as an architect, because
at that period of time, woman were not allowed to
be licensed architects - so she always had to
have a man working for the Santa Fe Railroad
sign off on her drawings.
She took film footage
of some of the construction activities.
And we look at it today, and its astounding
that they were able to move those rocks,
those huge boulders into place.
If there was something she didn’t like,
she had it taken out, and replaced
with the the ones she did.
Often these towers are built
over many, many, years; many generations.
and what you see is very purposeful mixing
of stone types, mixing of mortar types,
mixing - of different types of architectural styles.
From the small windows
to the larger ones that are for viewing,
to the lintel stools,
to the the small, little sandstone pieces,
to kind of fill in - like chinking stones,
as if - if had fallen apart
and they just needed to fill it back in again.
Each and every piece - chosen specifically to fit
just so - it evoked that feeling,
that it's very organic,
that it's unplanned - in a very planned way.
when you look out the windows of the kiva,
when you look out the windows of the tower,
you are looking upon this vast landscape that
really represents the aboriginal homes of many,
many people. The Hopi people, the Navajo people,
the Paiute people - all of them.
The Grand Canyon itself is a place of emergence
for many of the tribal people.
Each and every one of the tribes sees the Grand
Canyon and this greater region as part of their
homeland, their cultural landscape and
that is why they call the Canyon home.
Mary Colter, of course, was inspired by the
Hopi people and their architecture, their villages.
And, she in fact hired Hopi men to work on the
Watchtower construction.
Some of the paintings along the wall there
I can relate to.
I can actually see
some interpretation from it.
Here you see the four white lines.
And, what that means is, welcoming everyone:
from the four directions,
including the spiritual people, to a home.
So. it is, what you would call, a welcome sign.
So. that's a reflective of what the artist Kabotie
wanted to do, was to welcome everybody here.
So the murals in the room are really fabulous.
Fred Kabotie, as he was designing these,
working with Mary Colter, they really did put
together a package of murals that really tells Hopi
history, and is so rich in iconography and in the
imagery he was portraying.
If you look closely though, you will see that time
has taken its toll. There’s been damage from
water, from cracking in the cement, and just the
buildup of dirt over the years. Conservation of
these nationally significant buildings is critical for
our future generations to understand
what the parks are about;
what historic preservation is about.
On January 1st, 2015, the National Park Service
took over management of the Desert View
Watchtower. With that change we hope that Mary
Colter’s original vision, for the tower,
can once again be realized.
Over time of course, the first floor
of the Watchtower became full of the usual
merchandise of tee-shirts, cups, and memorabilia.
It didn’t allow for what I sense today.
When I walk through these doors today, I see
this vastness open up
and greet me as a Hopi person.
And it reminds Hopi of the magnificence of our
aboriginal lands, that we still pay homage to
in different ways.
Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter was
a Master Architect.
And this building is probably one of the
greatest of her works.
This one, hopefully will stand the test
of time and the ages
because of what it's here for
and what it's here to teach us.