It was built with an opulent lobby, and new amenities for the time such as air conditioning, a central vacuum system, pipe organ, and dividing doors in the ballrooms.

Commissioned by a group of Spokane businessmen to have a place to host and entertain their guests, the hotel is named after Louis Davenport, an influential businessman, the first proprietor and overseer of the project.

Davenport recognized his opportunity and leased a brick building on the North-east corner of Sprague Avenue and Post Street the next year.

The white stucco walls and green tile roofs stood in marked contrast to every other building downtown.

[7] Cutter, Karl G. Malmgren as well as the firm's superintendent of construction on the project, Gustav Albin Pehrson, designed the space drawing inspiration from the great architects of France, England and Spain and decorated the interior with luxurious appointments with fine art and tables dressed in Irish linens from Liddell and set with 15,000 pieces of silver (said to be the largest private commission for Reed & Barton).

The painting above the fireplace depicts the Niña, Pinta, and Santa María - the ships Christopher Columbus used to discover the New World in 1492.

The art glass panels in the ceiling give the hotel's single largest space an atrium effect.

When the beams were cleaned in the renovation of 2000 - with spray bottles of Simple Green and toothbrushes - the burgundy, teal, and gold colors appeared as they were when new.

[7] Mr. Davenport explained the hotel's iconography this way in 1915: In the old Spanish homes it was the custom to display medallions carrying the portraits of honored ancestors and distinguished members of the family.

This, as used here, has the body of a lion, symbolic of strength, and the wings and head of an eagle, emblematic of alertness, swiftness and rapidity of execution.

[15][16] 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.

In 1967, the owners, by that point renamed Western International Hotels, sold the Davenport to San Francisco-based John S. McMillan for $2.6 million.

[10] McMillan sold the hotel two years later, in 1969, to Basin Industries, which announced renovation plans, but then went bankrupt in 1972 when one of its owners was convicted of securities fraud.

Babcock had to surrender ownership of the financially ailing property back to Lomas & Nettleton in 1985, which closed the hotel immediately.

[18] 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.

Ng began phased renovations, including the restoration of the lobby's skylight, but was unable to reopen the property.

The hotel's public spaces and ballrooms were restored to their original appearance, with real gold leaf around the fireplace.

[7] The hotel's guest floors were stripped to bare concrete and rebuilt, with fresh wiring, plumbing, drywall, furniture and fixtures.

[23] The Historic Davenport has two restaurants, the Palm Court Grill and the Peacock Lounge for dining options as well as an espresso bar.

The hotel has hosted at least ten presidents (Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon) one emperor, and one queen (Marie of Romania).

"[25] Famous actors that have stayed at the hotel include Mary Pickford, Clark Gable, Steve McQueen, Rory Calhoun, John Carradine, Vincent Price, Raymond Burr, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Betty White, Rock Hudson, Jimmy Durante, Bob Barker, Ellen Drew, John Howard, Kay Francis, Ethel Barrymore, David Warfield, Jack Benny, Glenn Ford, Lynn Fontanne, and Cecil B.

[27] In literature, the Davenport Hotel is the setting for an interview of a suspect by private investigator, Sam Spade in the 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.