Historic Grand Canyon Lodge on the North Rim destroyed by fire

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. A wildfire took the spectacular Grand Canyon Lodge. But it lives on in guests' memories.

NATIONAL PARKS
A wildfire took the spectacular Grand Canyon Lodge. But it lives on in guests' memories.

The 88-year-old lodge was the only stay on the Grand Canyon's North Rim

By Adrianna Nine,
Southwest Contributing Parks Editor
July 15, 2025


The entrance to Grand Canyon Lodge.
Connect Images/Whit Richardson/Getty Images

In June, Lauren Baumann Frisco and her family did a multiday tour of the top national parks in the southwestern United States, and they were floored by all the natural beauty. But for Frisco, it was the stay at Grand Canyon Lodge, the North Rim’s near century-old accommodation, that made the biggest impression. She could already see herself returning someday to the sprawling property, with its charming log cabins and view of the Grand Canyon from 8,000 feet above.

“It was just a magical experience,” she told SFGATE. “You felt like you were being transported back in time.” … Frisco couldn’t have known that there wouldn’t be a second visit. Three weeks after her family’s stay at the lodge, the Dragon Bravo Fire — one of two wildfires that scorched northern Arizona over the weekend — destroyed the historic structure, along with dozens of other buildings. Though swift evacuations prevented any injuries or loss of life, according to the National Park Service, questions linger over the agency’s initial decision to manage the fire with a containment strategy rather than a full suppression one.


A firefighter smothers the flames from the Dragon Bravo Fire at Grand Canyon Lodge.
Grand Canyon National Park/Getty Images

Now, those who loved the lodge are mourning the loss of an architectural masterpiece that stood at the edge of the Grand Canyon for 88 years. And as those who knew it well will likely remember, this isn’t the first time the lodge has burned down. … In the 1920s, the newly formed park service hired architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood to design a lodge where visitors could recuperate after a long day of wonder and awe. (The project would benefit both the park service and the Union Pacific Railroad, which was eager to transport tourists to national parks such as Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon.) Underwood — whose work on Yosemite’s Ahwahnee Hotel, the Zion Lodge and the Bryce Canyon Lodge had made him famous — drew up a Spanish-style structure with an observation tower and three wings, plus a handful of cabins scattered throughout the property.

The lodge opened for business in 1928. But it wouldn’t remain open for long. Four years later, a kitchen fire destroyed the entire main lodge, leaving only its cabins behind. The Union Pacific Railroad’s subsidiary, the Utah Parks Company, quickly rebuilt the lodge, forgoing its second floor in favor of vaulted and beamed ceilings. The lodge’s second iteration opened in 1937.

{snip}