Restaurant years Lewellyn "Louis" Davenport came to
Spokane Falls,
Washington Territory, in the spring of 1889 at the age of 20. He had been a clerk in
San Francisco and came up to Spokane to work the summer in his uncle's "Pride of Spokane Restaurant." The summer of 1889 was fateful for Spokane and for Louis Davenport. In August, a fire tore through the infant metropolis, turning 32 square blocks of civilization to ashes. Young Davenport salvaged what he could from the rubble, bought a tent, and opened "Davenport's Waffle Foundry." Davenport's restaurant is one of the possible places where the first
Crab Louis (reportedly named after Louis Davenport) was created and served. Spokane rebuilt quickly after the big fire. Washington became a state that winter and Spokane dropped the Falls from its name. With
timber,
mining,
agriculture and the
railroad pouring money and people into the region, the city of Spokane was in the middle of it all and poised to become one of the great cities of the West. Davenport recognized his opportunity and leased a brick building on the North-east corner of
Sprague Avenue and Post Street the next year. He expanded his culinary offerings to nearly 100 items. Within a few years, Davenport's Restaurant was described by a critic as "the finest thing of the kind in the country." Business was so good, Davenport expanded into an adjoining building within a decade. He hired up-and-coming architect,
Kirtland Cutter, to make the two buildings appear as one in 1904. Cutter offered a Mission Revival style theme. The white stucco walls and green tile roofs stood in marked contrast to every other building downtown. This remodel added the finest ballroom in the West on the second floor, the Hall of the Doges.
Construction of the hotel The Davenport Hotel was neither Louis Davenport's idea nor was it built with his money. Instead, Cutter and his firm,
Cutter & Malmgren and Davenport were chosen by a group of leading Spokane businessmen, who thought the growing city required a large, grand hotel in which to board and entertain their guests. Leveraging Davenport's already strong reputation, the Davenport Hotel Company was formed in 1912 and preparation of the site began that year. The hotel tower went up in eight months in 1913, using horse carts, steam jacks and hand tools. Not a single worker was seriously injured or killed — a rarity for the time. In the design, Cutter was instructed to make sure "no more money than necessary was squandered on exterior ornament", which resulted in a building with a relatively simple exterior with strategically placed ornamentation but an extremely extravagant interior. The hotel opened for business on September 1, 1914, and held its grand opening celebrations from September 17–19, 1914. Ever since then, the hotel has promoted itself as "one of America's exceptional hotels."
Lobby The ornate hotel lobby has been referred to as "Spokane's living room", and in a 1921 edition of
The Architect and Engineer the lobby was applauded by the author stating, there are "few if any finer lobbies in America". The first fire in the lobby fireplace was lit in September 1914 by Kirtland Cutter. Hotel proprietor Louis Davenport decreed that as a symbol of hospitality. Originally wood-burning, the fireplace now burns
natural gas. The fireplace is kept burning year-round, as a symbol of hospitality and still following Mr. Davenport's request. The painting above the fireplace depicts the
Niña,
Pinta, and
Santa María - the ships
Christopher Columbus used to discover the
New World in 1492. Architecturally, the hotel has elements of
Italy,
France,
England,
Spain, and
Imperial Russia. was relocated to Spokane in September 1925, and went on the air from the Davenport on October 30 of that year. From its tower on the roof of the hotel, KHQ broadcast the first voices many people pulled from the air across the vast expanses of the Inland Northwest. KHQ featured many popular local bands, including Brill's Orchestra, led by cellist Leonardo Brill; his band, which was heard on radio on numerous occasions, performed for KHQ during the station's debut program. Demolition of the hotel was considered by the 1980s after it had been shuttered; A citizens' group called Friends of the Davenport was founded in 1986 by City Council member (and future Spokane mayor) Sheri Barnard, with the goal of saving the hotel. with the ringing of a ship's bell eight times signaling a change of the watch. ==Facilities==