El Tovar is a large hotel built twenty feet from the very edge of the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
The building's foundation is rubble masonry and concrete. The superstructure is of wood frame construction. The first floor is sheathed with log slab siding complete with finely-honed corner notching that gives the appearance of log construction. The upper stories have rough weatherboards. Log-slab moldings surround the windows on the first floor; those on the upper stories have heavy, milled moldings. The building has multiple roofs at several different levels that add to its architectural interest, visual appeal, and spatial experience. At the uppermost level is the wood turret, wrapped in shingles and serving as the most important element of the identifiable silhouette of El Tovar. Directly below that is the hip roof with bracketed eaves that shelters the central portion of the building, including the lobby and mezzanine lounge. The three-story wings to the north and south that flank that central portion have mansard roofs pierced by dormers.
On the north and south ends the roofs step down to two and one-story terraces. The main entrance on the east side of the building has a gable roof with a hipped end covering the large entrance porch. Further architectural emphasis on the main entrance includes the L-shaped walls of stone masonry bordering the outside edges of the entrance porch. The original sign identifying the building as El Tovar and bearing the Tovar coat of arms hangs above the entrance stairs, supported by a peeled log framework. Porches on the canyon end have peeled log posts. The railings along all of the terraces and porches have jigsawn balusters cut in patterns reminiscent of Swiss chalet detailing. The upper terraces have tapered posts approximately 10 feet in height and topped with trefoils that separate the sections of low railing and provide additional interest to the building's silhouette. The large porch on the north end of the building has two attached gazebos at the east and west.
The porch's lintel contains a quote from C.A. Higgins' "The Titan of Chasms" in wrought-iron letters reading:"Dreams of mountains, as in their sleep they brood on things eternal." An access ramp for wheelchairs was added to this north end of the building. At the southernmost end of the building the surrounding grade drops down to the hotel's basement level. The coursed rubble masonry walls of this end of the building contain arched openings similar to those in the stone corner wall of the entrance porch. The dining room, kitchen, and utility wing stretches out from the west end of the building. This wing has stone foundations, log- slab siding, and wood shingle roofs. The two stone chimneys on the north and south sides of this wing are flanked by large picture windows. The porch on the north side is not original and probably dates from the 1950s when the dining room expansion and small cocktail lounge were added.
