Desert View Watchtower

Architect Mary Colter designed the 70-foot (21 m) stone tower in 1932, modeling it on ancient towers built by Ancestral Puebloans, such as those at Hovenweep and Mesa Verde, without copying any of them. She had the stones laid uncut so their weathered surfaces would blend with the canyon walls. On the first landing, murals by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie depict the origins of Hopi life, while Fred Geary's ceiling paintings recreate rock art from Abo, New Mexico. Colter left the top floor deliberately plain so nothing distracts from the canyon. The Kiva Room below has served again as an open lounge since 2015.

The tower stands about 23 miles (37 km) east of Grand Canyon Village near the east entrance. From the top you see the Colorado River in a big bend, the North Rim more than 10 miles (16 km) away and, on a clear day, more than 100 miles (160 km); to the east the view runs over Navajo country to the Painted Desert. The tower is part of the Colter Buildings National Historic Landmark (1987). Next door are a shop, restrooms and a year-round gas station; the market with its deli and the trading post close for the winter (as of October 2026).