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The El Tovar Hotel transformed lodging at the Grand Canyon, where most visitors had previously slept in tent accommodations on the South Rim. A May 24, 1902, Coconino Sun report said the Santa Fe planned to build the most expensive hotel at the Grand Canyon and that the architect aimed to harmonize the building with the canyon’s scenery rather than mar its beauty with a conventional structure. Opening with great fanfare on January 14, 1905, the hotel catered to a wealthy clientele with a music room, solarium, billiard hall, underground grotto for card games, barbershop, two roof gardens, art room, and gift shop. For $4.50 and up per night, guests stayed in finely decorated rooms with both hot and cold running water. In keeping with the Santa Fe Railway’s practice of naming hotels after Spanish explorers, El Tovar honored Don Pedro de Tovar, who visited the Hopi mesas to the east in 1540.
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Grand Canyon Village, Arizona · United States
