The Grand Canyon Power House was built in 1926 by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway to provide electrical power to its facilities at the South Rim, which included a train station, the El Tovar Hotel and the Bright Angel Lodge.

It also provided steam to heat train cars parked at the Grand Canyon rail yard.

[3] The Grand Canyon Power Plant is a concrete framed industrial building sheathed in a rustic exterior reminiscent of a huge Swiss chalet.

The building's details are scaled to produce a trompe-l'œil effect, with elements such as the balcony rail, eaves and windows about twice as big as would normally be expected.

Above this masonry mass is an upper story of painted concrete, set off by the false balcony with its high railing on three sides and part of the fourth.

A west extension is detailed in a similar manner, and was apparently built just after the main building to accommodate a refrigeration plant.