Boulder Dam Hotel one stop on Home Tour

For nearly a half century the Boulder City chapter of American Association of University Women (AAUW) has played host to a Home Tour, which raises money for scholarships for local college students.

Being that Boulder City is rich in its history, not to mention there being a fair amount of wealth in town, finding homes to showcase has not been difficult.

“I lived in Boulder City in the 1970s and 1980s and was pleased to see the Home Tour was still going strong when I moved back here,” said Linda Gardner, AAUW Boulder City branch treasurer. “The community support and enthusiasm for the tour all these years has been amazing.”

The 47th annual Home Tour will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 per person. No children under 12 allowed to tour homes. Tickets are available at the Boulder Dam Hotel, both in advance and on the day of the tour.

This year the tour includes five homes: three built in the 1930s and two more modern homes. The tour also includes two rooms in the historic Boulder Dam Hotel, one of which is decorated with furniture that is from the hotel’s opening in 1933.

The addresses and a map of home locations are included in a brochure that comes with the wristband ticket that participants wear while touring the homes.

Among the sites tour participants will see are a house with six Christmas trees and a Santa collection, another home with original art by local artists Cliff Segerblom and Mary Virginia Lee, and a backyard decorated with signs reminiscent of New York City’s Central Park.

The local AAUW branch members estimate the group has provided more than a hundred local scholarships that were funded by the 46 prior home tours.

As far as the rooms to be shown at the historic Boulder Dam Hotel, one room features the original furniture from when the hotel opened. Sara and Ralph Denton purchased it long ago and donated it back to the hotel about a decade ago. The other is one of the hotel’s king suites. Remodeled by Bret and Priscilla Runion, the suite features a kitchenette and small sitting area.

Together, these two rooms represent what the hotel are trying to provide to visitors: a place that captures Boulder City’s historic charm while offering modern guests the amenities they have come to expect.

“There was a contest a few years back where different people remodeled different rooms,” Bret Runion said. “It was part of our massive fundraising efforts, since the museum did not have money to upgrade the property. Priscilla and I (and Desert Sun Realty) did a really nice remodel on one of the larger suites. The beauty is, this allowed the rooms to be constantly renovated for more money for several years. A gift that keeps giving.”