 The initial plans for the facade of the dam , the power plant , the outlet tunnels and ornaments clashed with the modern look of an arch dam . The Bureau of Reclamation , more concerned with the dam 's functionality , adorned it with a Gothic @-@ inspired <unk> and eagle statues . This initial design was criticized by many as being too plain and unremarkable for a project of such immense scale , so Los Angeles @-@ based architect Gordon B. Kaufmann , then the supervising architect to the Bureau of Reclamation , was brought in to redesign the exteriors . Kaufmann greatly streamlined the design , and applied an elegant Art Deco style to the entire project . He designed <unk> turrets rising seamlessly from the dam face and clock faces on the intake towers set for the time in Nevada and Arizona — the two states are in different time zones , but as Arizona does not observe <unk> Saving Time , the clocks display the same time for more than half the year . 
