The Davenport Hotel is a hotel located in Spokane, Washington. Assigned by a group of Spokane businessmen, the hotel is named after Louis Davenport, the first owner and supervisor of the project. The Kirtland Cutter architect designed the building in 1914. The Davenport Hotel is the first hotel in the United States with air conditioning, central vacuum system, pipe organ, and ballroom separation door. This is also the place where the first Louis Crab (named after Louis Davenport) was created and presented. This hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Davenport Hotel was completely refurbished by developer Walt Worthy in 2002 and operates today under the name of The Historic Davenport Hotel in The Davenport Hotel Collection along with its three sisters.
Video The Davenport Hotel (Spokane, Washington)
History
Initial years
Lewellyn "Louis" Davenport came to Spokane Falls, Washington Area, in the spring of 1889 at the age of 20. He had been a scribe in San Francisco and came to Spokane for summer work in his uncle's "Pride of Spokane Restaurant." "The summer of 1889 was decisive for Spokane and Louis Davenport.In August, a fire ripped through the infant metropolis, turning 32 blocks of civilization to ashes Young Davenport rescued what he could from ruins, bought a tent, and opened" Waffle Foundry Davenport. "Spokane rebuilt rapidly after a major fire.Swimming became a winter country and Spokane dropped Waterfall from its name.With wood, mining, agriculture and trains pouring money and people into the area, the city of Spokane is in its midst and ready to become one of the big cities in the West.
Davenport realized his chances and rented a brick building on the northeast corner of Sprague Avenue and Post Street the following year. He expanded his culinary offerings to nearly 100 items. Within a few years, Davenport's Restaurant was described by a critic as "the best of the kind in the country." Business is very good, Davenport extends to adjacent building in a decade. He recruited the rising architect, Kirtland Cutter, to make both buildings appear as one in 1904. Cutter offers the theme of the Resurrection Mission style. The white plaster walls and red tile roofs stand in stark contrast to every other building in the city center. This remodel adds the best ballroom in the West on the second floor, Hall of the Doges.
Construction of the hotel tower
The Davenport Hotel is not the idea of ​​Louis Davenport or built with its money, because the leading businessmen who want a big public house where to ride and entertain their guests. Their search for the finest people of architecture and hospitality ends with their first choice, Cutter and Davenport. Utilizing the already powerful Davenport name, Davenport Hotel Company was formed in 1912 and site preparations began that year. The hotel tower went up in eight months 1913 using a horse-drawn carriage, a steam jack and hand tools. No worker was seriously wounded or killed - a rare thing for that moment. Cutter and Davenport release the world for ideas and furniture for their new hotel. Space designed by artisans inspired by great architects French, English, and Spanish. Davenport meets them with art and singers and prepares to put his guests on tables dressed in the finest Irish linen from Liddell (whose linen sails on Titanic) and is arranged with 15,000 pieces of silver (the largest private commission ever made by Reed and Barton). Since opening day, this hotel has been promoting itself as "one of the great hotels in America."
Radio and broadcast closure
The Davenport Hotel is home to the first licensed commercial radio station in Spokane - KHQ, signed in the air in 1922. From the roof tower of the hotel, KHQ broadcasts the first sounds of many people pulling from the air across the expanse of Inland Northwest. KHQ features many local bands, including The Musicaladers. The group drummer came out of Gonzaga University and became world-famous for his voice. His name is Harry "Bing" Crosby. Radio KHQ has remained a strong voice in the air for more than half a century. Both KHQ and The Davenport Hotel became dark in 1985.
Mr. Davenport sold his hotel in 1945, and died in his hotel room in 1951; his wife Verus in 1967. Each owner successively until the second half of the 20th century took more than they gave to the property. The Davenport Hotel was closed in 1985 and demolition was considered. By the time Davenport's only son died in 1987, it was generally believed that Davenport Hotel would be destroyed. A demolition crew determined that the entire block could be dropped in 20 seconds, but the airborne asbestos nightmare saved him from the explosion. The demolition and rescue were determined to be too expensive so the hotel remained closed for 15 years.
Maps The Davenport Hotel (Spokane, Washington)
Restore and reopen
In March 2000, local entrepreneur Walt & amp; Karen Worthy bought the entire city block for $ 6.5 million, then spent the next two years of their lives - and $ 38 million of their own money - to make The Davenport Hotel even more grand. The public spaces and ballroom at the hotel are restored to what it would look like when they were new - it is the original gold leaf around the fireplace. The hotel guest floors are taken back with concrete and rebuilt with new cables, pipes, drywall, furniture and fixtures. The Hall of the Doges, Spokane's oldest and finest ballroom, was removed from the oldest part of the structure and reassembled in the new Eastern additions. The disappearance is done by lifting the ballroom in its entirety, making it the only ballroom flying in the world. The Davenport Hotel was re-established in September 2002 with the ringing of the ship's bell eight times signifying a change of watch.
Lobby
The first fire in the lobby fireplace was lit in September 1914 by Kirtland Cutter. The hotel owner Louis Davenport sets it as a symbol of hospitality. Originally wood burning, the fireplace is now burning natural gas. The fireplace stays on fire all year, as a symbol of hospitality and still follows Davenport's request. The painting above the fireplace depicts NiÃÆ' Â ± a, Pinta, and Santa MarÃÆ'a - the ship Christopher Columbus used to discover the New World in 1492. Architecturally, the hotel has elements of Italian, French, English, Spanish, and Russian Empire.
The lobby is inspired by the Spanish Renaissance style. The art glass panel on the ceiling gives the largest space an atrium effect. There is a separate glass roof over this one for protection. The ceiling beam is a cast plaster with an imitation wood grille. Over time, many details about it are lost due to several decades of smoke in the lobby - both from wood-burning fireplaces and cigars/cigarettes. When the beam was cleaned in a 2000 renovation - with a Simple Green spray bottle and a toothbrush - burgundy, teal, and gold colors appeared when they were new.
Mr. Davenport explains the iconography of the hotel in this way in 1915:
Famous citizen
Poet Vachel Lindsay stayed at the hotel, room # 1129, from 1924 to 1929.
Gallery
References
Further reading
- Henry Matthews, "Wedding Functions and Fantasy: Extraordinary Fate of Davenport Spokane Hanging Balance" at Colombia, Northwest Historical Magazine. Autumn 1991.
- Henry Matthews, Kirtland Cutter: Architect in the Land of Agreement University of Washington Press 1998.
- "Ten Expectations and Fears: Preserving Hotel Davenport" at Arcade, Northwest Journal of Architecture & Design February/March 1991.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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