Desert View Tower

Desert View Tower
Nearest city Ocotillo, California
Coordinates 32°39′33″N 116°5′57″W / 32.65917°N 116.09917°W / 32.65917; -116.09917Coordinates: 32°39′33″N 116°5′57″W / 32.65917°N 116.09917°W / 32.65917; -116.09917
Area 5 acres (2.0 ha)
Built 1922-1928
Architectural style Other, Environmental Folk Art
MPS Twentieth Century Folk Art Environment in California TR
NRHP Reference # 80000801[1]
Added to NRHP August 29, 1980

The Desert View Tower is located on Interstate 8, near Jacumba and Ocotillo, in western Imperial County, Southern California. It is at 3,000 feet (910 m) in elevation, in the In-Ko-Pah Mountains.

The stone tower was built from 1922 to 1928 as a roadside attraction by Bert Vaughn, a real estate developer who owned Jacumba. The three story tower houses a museum and has an observation deck on its upper level. The gift shop at the base of the tower is a later addition.

An ensemble of stone sculptures of animal, called Boulder Park, is adjacent to Desert View Tower. They were sculpted by M.T. Ratliffe (or Radcliff) over two years during the 1930s in the local stone. Both the tower and sculpture garden are works of folk art.[2][3][4]

The tower and sculpture garden were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 1980.[1] As folk art, the tower and garden were included in the Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments in California Multiple Property Submission.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "The Desert Tower". Imperial County. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  3. ↑ Hurtado, Albert L. (October 12, 1977). "California Historic Resources Inventory: Desert View Tower" (PDF). State of California. Retrieved 25 July 2012.
  4. 1 2 Selway, Robert; Hurtado, Albert; Hart, Emily (1978). "National Registrr of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission: Twentieth Century Folk Art Environments in California" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 25 July 2012.


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