Historic Hotels & Inns in Nevada

Ways in

Themes in Nevada

The Comstock: Virginia City and Gold Hill

Virginia City was founded with the Comstock Lode silver strike of 1859, and the stone core of the Gold Hill Hotel, a mile or so south, was under construction by July 1861. The Tahoe House opened on C Street in 1860, by a 2013 news report (the hotel says 1859), and survived the Great Fire of October 1875, which destroyed most of the town. The Silver Queen and the houses that are now the Cobb Mansion and the Virginia City Bed & Breakfast went up in the 1876 rebuilding. All five are inside the Virginia City Historic District, a National Historic Landmark since 1961, and the V&T Railroad still runs trains between Virginia City and Gold Hill.

Tonopah, once home to Nevada’s tallest buildings

Tonopah’s two historic hotels stand across the street from each other at Main Street and Brougher Avenue. The State Bank and Trust Company put up its five-story Classical Revival building in 1906, moved in in June 1907 and failed four months later. Across the street, the five-story Mizpah, financed by George Wingfield, George S. Nixon, Cal Brougher and Bob Govan, opened in November 1908 with the town’s first elevator, and together the two were the tallest buildings in Nevada until 1927. Fred and Nancy Cline of Cline Cellars reopened the Mizpah in 2011 and opened the old bank as the Belvada Hotel in December 2020, with new rooms inside the 1906 shell.

Boulder City and the Hoover Dam era

Boulder City was a new federal town when builder P.S. Webb put up the Boulder Dam Hotel in 1932–33 to house visitors to the dam then under construction. Through the 1930s it drew Bette Davis, Will Rogers, Henry Fonda, Boris Karloff and Shirley Temple, and Howard Hughes recuperated there after wrecking his plane on Lake Mead. It declined when the dam closed to visitors in World War II; restoration began in 1993, and since 2005 the Boulder City Museum and Historical Association has owned it, with the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum inside. The hotel is individually listed on the National Register and stands in the Boulder City Historic District, listed in 1983.

Downtown Las Vegas: El Cortez

J.K. Houssels opened El Cortez on Fremont Street in 1941, and the hotel calls it downtown Las Vegas’ first luxury hotel-casino. Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Moe Sedway and Gus Greenbaum bought it in 1945, and Houssels bought it back in 1946; Jackie Gaughan bought it in 1963 and lived in its tower penthouse for more than 30 years. The 1941 Mission-style facade has never been replaced, and the neon roof sign dates from 1952. Listed on the National Register in 2013, it’s the only Las Vegas hotel on a historic register that takes guests, but only the ‘Original 47’ rooms above the casino are in the 1941 building, and the whole property has been 21 and over since 2022.

Road trip

Boulder City to the Comstock, inn to inn

Boulder City

Start at the Boulder Dam Hotel, built in 1932–33 for visitors to the dam, and see the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum inside.

Las Vegas

Stay downtown at El Cortez in one of the ‘Original 47’ rooms above the casino, the only rooms in its 1941 building; every guest must be 21 or older.

Tonopah

Drive north on U.S. 95 to Tonopah and choose between the 1908 Mizpah, home of the Lady in Red story, and the Belvada across the street, a 1906 bank with new rooms.

Virginia City

Finish on the Comstock with two nights on C Street, in a B&B above it or at the Gold Hill Hotel. Pick an inn from our Virginia City guide.

Context

History and architecture

Nevada’s historic hotels follow its money, from the Comstock Lode to the dam and downtown Las Vegas. Virginia City was founded with the Comstock silver strike of 1859, and the Gold Hill Hotel’s stone core was going up by July 1861, before Nevada became the 36th state on October 31, 1864, during the Civil War. After the Great Fire of October 1875 destroyed most of Virginia City, the town rebuilt in 1876, the year of the Silver Queen and of the houses that are now the Cobb Mansion and the Virginia City Bed & Breakfast. In Tonopah, the State Bank and Trust Company building went up in 1906 and the Mizpah opened in 1908, and together they were the state’s tallest buildings until 1927. In the dam-building years, the new federal town of Boulder City got the Boulder Dam Hotel, opened in 1933 for the dam’s visitors, and in 1941 J.K. Houssels opened El Cortez on Fremont Street in Las Vegas, where its Mission-style facade has never been replaced.