The Tucson Verde Rotary Club is preparing for its second year of the “Home & Building Tour,” an effort that highlights environmental initiatives and buildings being developed across surrounding areas and communities.
Available across multiple locations, the tour lasts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 27. Tickets are $25.
“This is our second year hosting this tour, and this year we have multiple locations,” said Linda Fugate, chair of the Rotary Club’s Home & Building Tour Committee.
“This year, we have places featuring cooperative housing, which is a good solution for growing urban populations who share facilities and decision-making. I think that’s a new one for us this year and we like to see urban infill so that we’re not going out, but we’re instead filling in our spaces.”
The tour will feature locations like an off-the-grid home with passive solar energy, water harvesting and a cooling tower; a 43-acre mud adobe co-housing desert community and an urban all-electric infill in the Mercado area.
Other stops include a Santa Rosa Barrio eclectic modern home with a renovated 1911 art studio and courtyard; a 7,000 square foot Barrio Viejo urban infill home built in 2003; a 1929 garage to artist studio conversion with water harvesting in Iron Horse; a backyard infill and accessory dwelling unit (ADU) – essentially a casita – in the midtown area and the Watershed Management Group’s Living Lab tour focused on engagement, learning and sharing.
Fugate said that the organization supports most contributions and appreciates when buildings are repurposed, much like the historical Teatro Carmen, which appeared on last year’s tour.
“This year, the building is getting a new roof, so we were unable to feature them again. They’ll be back on the tour next year,” Fugate said.
“Teatro Carmen is a front-facing façade which could be called a state-of-the-art theater in a 1915 shell. This is so cool because otherwise it would have been torn down. There’s going to be a cafe and an outdoor patio, and it will be a nice place where you’ll go see music concerts, plays and productions of all sorts.”
Fugate said that this tour will help raise funds and generate the money needed to keep the Rotary Club in a place where it can continue doing vital projects. They also work alongside other rotary clubs.
“We were chartered in 2021 as an environmental club,” Fugate said. “Our projects, focus, speakers and meetings are all about the environment in the city and the state. How can we help make solutions for our city and state going forward? We do a lot of projects, which is why we need fundraisers to generate the money.
“Last year, we sent a team that went to the Navajo Reservation and put solar lighting on homes that didn’t have any electricity at all. They gave them three lights and a place to plug in a cell phone, with assistance from a rotary club in Colorado. We’re proud of that project, and we do other things like planting trees.”
Fugate hopes that Tucson residents will enjoy the tour and that they can continue to discover and draw attention to locations that focus on positive environmental outcomes.
“Same as last year, there are locations with diverse characteristics,” Fugate said. “We like to highlight various environmentally friendly aspects, including sustainable building practices, energy-saving features and water conservation.
“We’ve been told we have a fun tour and that it’s enjoyable for families to go out and see what other people are doing with their properties. If we can save the water that the sky brings us, then we’ll be ahead of the game here in the desert, where we don’t want to run out of water.”
Home & Building Tour
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 27
WHERE: Various locations
COST: $25
INFO: rotarytucsonverde.com
This article appears in Apr 10-17, 2025.