North Rim Entrance Station: Historic Structure Report

Built in 1928, the North Rim Entrance Station is a classic gateway to the Grand Canyon National Park and an excellent example of the rustic park architecture developed early in National Park Service history. Initially an outstanding example of the checking station building type, the original structure was designed to make a grand architectural statement. Based on a variation of the log cabin, the design was distinguished by elegant gabled wood-shingled canopies that projected over two vehicular lanes entering and exiting the park. The original design used the simple vernacular cabin shape and infused it with Classicism, not only through the use of proportion but also by employing the basic form and function of the Triumphal Arch as the design's inspiration. Perhaps, most significantly, the scale of the entrance station served to convey the overall feeling of the North Rim which is more relaxed and less crowded, smaller in scale and less changed from the early days of tourism at the Grand Canyon. The entrance station is still valued aesthetically as it relates well to the architecture of the North Rim, primarily as expressed through its scale, a trait to be retained in the future treatment of the building. (See Appendix E, Figures 1-4). Of further significance is the building's inherent relationship to its site, its use of materials from the surrounding landscape, and its orientation function as a symbolic introduction to the North Rim. A relatively small structure, the entrance station uniquely commands its location on a knoll as a distant focal point, while offering impressive vistas north and south across both meadows and long views of the undulating approach road to the occupying ranger. The building is constructed of oversized logs, which reflect the mature Ponderosa pine trees surrounding the site. Both aesthetically and practically, the building plays a key role in the arrival sequence that takes best advantage of the natural topography, landscape, panoramic vistas, and dramatic foliage to indicate the importance of the park. The building has continued to serve in its original capacity as the checking station and first point of contact for visitors to the North Rim since 1928.

North Rim Entrance Station: Historic Structure Report

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