A 160-room Italian Renaissance and Spanish Revival pile that has anchored downtown Boulder since New Year's Day 1909, with the original stained-glass lobby ceiling, the cantilevered cherry staircase, and a Otis cage elevator still in daily use, now operating as a Graduate by Hilton.
"Boulder's only properly old hotel, and it knows what to do with the assignment. The stained-glass ceiling, the cherry staircase, the wooden cage elevator: this is the address that lets a Front Range weekend feel like a chapter rather than an errand."
The Boulderado opened on January 1, 1909, financed by a subscription drive from local merchants who decided the new university town needed a hotel that could compete with Denver. The Italian Renaissance and Spanish Revival exterior of red brick and sandstone faces the corner of 13th and Spruce, exactly one block from Pearl Street, and the original 1908 stained-glass canopy still floats above the five-storey lobby. The cantilevered cherry-and-sycamore staircase is the most-photographed object in any Boulder hotel; the Otis Brothers cage elevator on the south side has run continuously since opening day. The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and a multi-year programme has folded it into the Hilton portfolio as a Graduate Hotel without removing the heritage fabric.
The 160 rooms are split between the original 1909 wing and a 1989 north addition that mirrors the heritage massing closely enough that most guests do not notice the join. Rooms in the historic wing are smaller (typically 220 to 320 square feet) and carry the original ceiling heights, transom windows, and irregular floor plans; rooms in the addition are larger and more conventional but lose the period feel. The renovation under Graduate has introduced a softer palette of cream, brass, and oak with playful local references (Mork & Mindy filmed in Boulder, Stephen King wrote The Shining nearby), and the historic suites on the second and third floors remain the rooms to book if the building's age is the point of the visit.
Spruce Confections operates the lobby coffee bar, and the Mezzanine Bar pours cocktails under the stained-glass ceiling, a setting that flatters a first date and a fifth anniversary equally well. The hotel does not run a full restaurant in the post-Graduate iteration, but the Boulderado sits at the dead centre of Boulder's dining map: Frasca Food and Wine, the Kitchen, Avanti, and the entire Pearl Street strip are five to ten minutes on foot. The Catacombs jazz bar in the basement, in operation since 1969, remains the most reliable music room in town.
Service runs friendly and informal in the Graduate idiom; the back-of-house staff includes a number of long-term Boulderado employees retained through the transition, and the historian-led tour at 11am on Saturdays is the best free thing to do in any Boulder hotel. There is no spa and no pool (the building's age does not allow either), but a small fitness centre on the second floor and a partnership with the YMCA two blocks east cover the gap.
For an anniversary, the Boulderado is the Boulder address with the most accumulated romance per square foot. Book a historic suite on the second or third floor of the original wing, request the courtyard-side window for the morning light, and reserve a corner booth at the Mezzanine Bar under the stained-glass ceiling. The hotel runs an in-room champagne and chocolate amenity that is genuinely good rather than ceremonial.
The Mezzanine Bar at the Boulderado is the most quietly cinematic proposal setting in the city: the stained-glass ceiling reads in low light, the bar staff understand a discreet signal, and the cherry staircase delivers the after-yes photograph that no other Boulder hotel can produce. Pair with a sunset hike at Chautauqua and a private dining room at Frasca three blocks away for the dinner.
For a Boulder family weekend with older children, the Boulderado teaches more local history than the science museum and is one block from the open-air Pearl Street Mall, where the busking buskers and street magicians run from morning through evening. The Graduate-era family room configurations sleep four comfortably, and the historian tour engages children old enough to follow a building story.
2115 13th Street
Boulder, CO 80302
United States
One block north of Pearl Street Mall; 45 minutes from Denver International Airport; the RTD AB1 bus stops two blocks east
160 rooms and suites
Historic King from $158/night
Historic Suite from $310/night
Presidential Suite from $700/night
Rates exclude 13.3 percent lodging tax
Check-in: 4:00 PM
Check-out: 11:00 AM
Opened 1909; National Register of Historic Places; Graduate Hotels (Hilton)
Stained-glass lobby canopy (1908)
Cantilevered cherry staircase
Original Otis cage elevator
Mezzanine Bar and Catacombs jazz room
Spruce Confections lobby cafe
Complimentary high-speed WiFi
From $158/night. Historic-wing suites book three to four months ahead for CU graduation, parents' weekend, and CU football home games. Saturday night minimums apply across the May to October leisure season.
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