Yavapai Observation Station: Historic Structure Report

Built in 1928 expressly for observing and understanding the geology of the Grand Canyon, the Yavapai Observation Station (also known as the Yavapai Point Museum) is a spectacularly designed example of the Park Service's pursuit of a singular and aesthetically appropriate architecture for the park system. Within the context of the development of the rustic style, the Yavapai Observation Station best exemplifies the National Park Service philosophy of melding the built environment into the natural landscape. Apart from this, the museum is significant for a wide range of reasons: The building, an excellent illustration of the characteristics of Pueblo architecture, is the work of a prominent architect, Herbert C. Maier, who was inspired by the ideology of architect Mary Colter: The warm golden-colored stone work exhibits a high level of craftsmanship. And, the building was among the earliest interpretive structures in the park system. Above all, the Yavapai Observation Station has long been a favorite of Grand Canyon visitors, a place at once welcoming and exciting, intimate and instructive (see Appendix E, Historic Images). Exhibiting indigenous materials and an intimate scale, the museum compares favorably with the architecture of the Grand Canyon Village, but it sits, somewhat isolated on a prominent point to the east, the area's best vantage point. Dramatically poised on the perimeter of the South Rim, the building's sensational siting on the canyon edge is integral to its design and expression. Flat-roofed and built low to the ground with battered stone walls, the one-story structure was designed to be particularly unobtrusive in its setting. The plane of the roof mimics the extreme flatness of the canyon rim and echoes the horizontal striations of the inner canyon, while the jagged outline of the observation terrace was shaped to conform almost exactly to the canyon rim.

Yavapai Observation Station: Historic Structure Report

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