When was the davenport built

Like the imposing baronial hotels of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, the Davenport was designed to present an outpost of elegance in a major city along the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads. To read more about the grand Davenport, check out the Spokane Register Nomination! Listed Properties.

Historic Properties Map. In Davenport acquired the adjacent three-story building, the Bellevue Block, enlarged his restaurant, and adapted the boarding house on the upper levels into the Pennington Hotel. On October 8, , the Spokesman-Review jubilantly announced that a fabulous new hotel was in the offing, to be designed by Kirtland Cutter and his partner, Swedish-born architect Karl Malmgren. After demolition of the existing buildings on the site was completed in late , erection of the hotel could begin, with the structural framework in place by August The interior was completed in time for the Davenport to receive its first guests on September 1, Additional floors were added in and In the center was a huge, elegant lobby in the style of a Spanish patio, surrounded by a mezzanine.

But instead of being open to the sky like a patio, it featured a skylight. On the other public rooms as well, no cost or effort were spared -- the Marie Antoinette ballroom, the Elizabethan banquet room, and a new restaurant, the Isabella Room. The massive and efficient kitchens, under longtime chef Edward Mathieu, could serve 4, meals a day.

Unlike the lavish public rooms, the guestrooms with private baths were simple, comfortable, and homey, with prices, except for luxury suites, correspondingly affordable.

Chilled water was piped to each room, the elevators were state-of-the-art, and the Davenport was one of the first hotels to be air-cooled throughout.

Thus the hotel proved to be a fortunate combination of elegance, comfort, hospitality, and advanced technology. As important to Spokanites as to visitors from afar, the Davenport became the social and commercial center for the city -- the site of business transactions, wedding receptions, assemblies, banquets, and dances of all kinds.

For years the top two floors were given over to sample rooms where traveling salesmen could display their wares. The Davenport hosted an amazing number of celebrity visitors.

Davenport was not a Spokane native, but he found himself in Spokane shortly after the great fire of Davenport lent his hand to the cleanup and reconstruction efforts, and was able to set aside some money in the process. Soon Davenport opened a small restaurant in a tent, which he would later replace with a more permanent waffle factory at the eastern end of the block where the Davenport Hotel stands today. Davenport wasn't satisfied to stop with the restaurant, and began to make plans for the hotel.

Along with architect Kirtland Cutter, Davenport set about designing a hotel for the Inland Northwest that would impress travelers from all over the world.