While on your way to see the Grand Canyon, start with the Grand Canyon Railway Depot
The Grand Canyon Depot is a log and wood-frame building with a central building two-and-a-half stories high and wings to the east and west each one-and-a-half stories. The building’s foundation is cement. The intersecting gable roofs are featured with green-painted asbestos shingles. The south gable end frames the Santa Fe logo near the ridge, with the identifying “Grand Canyon” logo below in green copper lettering. Centered below that on the first floor is a log bay projecting out from the building’s mass, covered by a small gable roof. The baggage loading platform and baggage room are at the east end of the depot. The waiting platform and ticket booth are at the west end. The front elevation faces south and overlooks the remaining tracks.
The design details of the log construction are fascinating. The logs are squared on three sides creating bearing surfaces and flat interior surfaces. The bottom edges of each log are routed 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 extend out two feet from the second story. The shadows cast 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 over the passenger-loading area. The log framing of the roof structure above it is exposed.
The first floor of the building contains the original waiting room, ticket office, restrooms, baggage room, and various other public and private spaces. The floor is scored concrete. The log-slab wainscoting and molding around the doors and windows contributes to the building’s rustic quality. The floors in the apartment 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 modern Victorian-style depot was designed by a railway architect in 1907, but it was not built. Wilson’s railway depot was constructed in 1909-1910. The original copper logo on the front elevation spelling out “Grand Canon” were changed to read “Grand Canyon” by 1911. A storm vestibule and small ticket office of log-slab siding were added to the west end 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 provide changes in the women’s restroom.
