While on your way to tour the Grand Canyon, start with the Grand Canyon Railway

The Grand Canyon Depot is a log and wood-frame building with a central section two-and-a-half stories in height and wings to the east and west each one-and-a-half stories. The building’s foundation is concrete. The intersecting gable roofs are finished with green-painted asbestos shingles. The north gable end frames the Santa Fe logo near the ridge, with the identifying “Grand Canyon” logo below in green copper letters. Centered below that on the bottom floor is a log bay projecting out from the building’s center, protected by a small gable roof. The baggage loading platform and baggage room are at the east end of the building. The waiting platform and ticket booth are at the west end. The front facade faces south and overlooks the remaining tracks.

Enjoy your stop on your northern Arizona vacation. The design details of the log construction are unusual. The logs are squared on three sides creating bearing surfaces and flat interior surfaces. The bottom sides of each log are notched to hold wood strips wrapped in building paper which drapes between the logs and over the faces of the lower logs. The squared logs are drawn tightly together at the corners and again lined with building paper. Building corners in the main two-story portion are finished with peeled log posts. Log brackets on the upper story support the roof whose gable ends project out two feet from the second story. The shadows created by the long eaves and overhangs reinforce the building’s horizontal emphasis. The building logs and shingles are stained dark brown. Paired log posts support the roof covering the passenger-loading area. The log framing of the roof structure above it is exposed.

The lower floor of the building contains the historic waiting room, ticket office, restrooms, baggage room, and various other public and work spaces. The floor is scored concrete. The log-slab wainscoting and molding surounding the doors and windows contributes to the building’s rustic quality. The floors in the residential unit are wood, with linoleum finishes in the kitchen, pantry, and bath. The walls are plaster. All original doors exist and are either original planks with wrought-iron bolts and hardware, or glazed or solid with multiple wood inset panels.

A new Victorian-style depot was designed by a railway architect in 1907, but it was not built. Wilson’s railway depot was built in 1909-1910. The original copper logo on the front elevation spelling out “Grand Canon” were corrected to read “Grand Canyon” by 1911. A storm vestibule and small ticket office of log-slab siding were added to the west side of the building under the covered passenger platform in 1929. That same season, the iron fence was added at the east and west edges of the Grand Canyon Railroad depot to enclose the railroad yard. Asbestos shingles, replacing the original wood shingles, were installed on the roofs in 1940. The floor plan was revised in 1949 to allow changes in the women’s restroom.