Grand Canyon buildings continue to inspire a hundred years later.
Meet Mary Jane Elizabeth Colter, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 4, 1869. She was 33 years old when she was hired as an interior designer and architect by the hospitality forerunner Fred Harvey Company, a contractor for Santa Fe Railway. That was in 1902.
A few years later, Colter was asked to design the Hopi House, an indigenous-influenced architectural design that launched five other projects at the Grand Canyon: Lookout Studio, Bright Angel Lodge and cabins, Hermit’s Rest, Desert View Watchtower and Phantom Ranch, named after nearby Phantom Creek.
She also designed the men’s dormitory at the Grand Canyon and Colter Hall, the women’s dormitory.
According to the Grand Canyon National Park Website, NPS.gov, Mary Colter designed buildings that would become part of their surroundings, that “would create no discordant note against the time-eroded walls of this promontory. To obtain this result, Colter insisted that the rocks not be cut or worked…so they would not lose the weathered surfaces so essential to blend in with the Grand Canyon walls.”
Flagstaff residents Allen and Carol Naille lived at the Grand Canyon for 13 years. Allen worked for Fred Harvey Company in several positions before assuming the position of general manager there, eventually moving to Flagstaff to accept his role as president of the company. In all, he worked for the company for 25 years. Carol was in charge of the Grand Canyon library.
“Mary Colter was a woman in a man’s world and her characteristics made her unique,” said Carol, who had a friend whose father knew and was employed with Colter. “She worked with men but was able to get her way. She stood up to men but she was tactful. She had to be. Also, at the time, Fred Harvey Company had all male managers. I believe she was an amazing person because of her talent and her ability to get along with the men she worked with. I’ve always admired her.”
In a Jan. 23, 1904, article, the Minneapolis Journal referenced Colter, describing artists as people who develop themselves. “There is no necessity of seeking for art genius. When it occurs it will make itself apparent.”
Though much has been documented about Colter’s design style and how she was adamant that things were done her way, little is known about her personal life.
“You don’t hear many stories about her other than her work. I would like to know what drove her to do what she did,” said Edward “Ted” McClure, librarian at the Grand Canyon National Park research library. “She traveled all over the Southwest looking at Native American construction and patterned her design for the Desert View Watchtower on what she saw. I think what is most important is that she was her own woman in a man’s world.”
Senior Contributing Editor at Preservation Magazine and author Arnold Berke in his book, “Mary Colter Architect of the Southwest” titled his first chapter “Drawn by the Desert: An Incomprehensible Woman in Pants.” Berke wrote, “She possessed a special genius for interpreting the past to create new buildings and interiors that, with their striking forms and fanciful atmosphere, have enchanted generations of travelers crossing the American Southwest.”
Colter “may well be the best-known unknown architect in the United States who helped to create the National Park Service rustic style,” stated Preservation Magazine.
Though historians, architects and visitors find her work fascinating, the Desert View Watchtower stands out, built on the South Rim with views of the Painted Desert to the east, the San Francisco Peaks to the south and the Colorado River as it exits Marble Canyon to the north.
“After exploring archaeology sites in the Four Corners region, Mary Colter closely supervised the design of Desert View Watchtower, a majestic recreation of an ancient stone tower rising from the eastern rim of the Grand Canyon,” said Grand Canyon Conservancy Director of Marketing Mindy Riesenberg.
“The conservation of the historic murals inside the Watchtower was completed in 2019 and the second phase of the development of an Intertribal Cultural Heritage Site at Desert View started this winter with work on a new amphitheater on the rim of the canyon. In the next few years, the area will see many changes, including redesigned pathways, a new tribally-
run welcome center and expanded capabilities for hosting cultural demonstrators,” said Riesenberg.
Other structures built under Colter’s architectural ingenuity outside the Grand Canyon include La Posada in Winslow, El Navajo in Gallup, New Mexico and La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She also has her mark on the restaurant at The Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal.
Colter died at age 88 on Jan. 8, 1958. T-shirts and stickers commemorating the 100th anniversary of Phantom Ranch can be found at shop.grandcanyonlodges.com. QCBN
By V. Ronnie Tierney, QCBN
