at reasonable prices , but that wasn ’ t all . It had atmosphere . Davenport was always expanding and upgrading its unique décor with the help of architectural designer Kirtland Cutter . Cutter ’ s eclectic ingenuity infused private dining , meeting , and banquet rooms with that exotic flavor characteristic of the “ long ago and far away .” Names like the Peacock Room , the Gothic Room , and the Hall of the Doges ( added in 1905 ) beguiled like a charmer ’ s dance . Then , with the development of the Davenport Hotel , the team of Cutter and Davenport had only to continue elaborating upon that lyrical diversity in the public areas : the Isabella Dining Room , the Tudor-inspired Elizabethan Banquet Room , the Pompeian Barber Shop , the Spanish Renaissance Lobby , and the French Neo- Classical Marie Antoinette Ballroom .
As with the restaurant , the art and musical entertainment in the Davenport Hotel gave Louis Davenport ’ s genius for hospitality further expression . His insistence on excellence in public service had grown wings large enough to carry not only the restaurant , but also the hotel — and possibly the entire city — skyward . For the Lobby eventually became Spokane ’ s unofficial “ living room ,” and it was not uncommon for friends to say , “ Meet me at the fireside ,” when getting together . The ever-burning fireplace was the rallying point of the city . That is to say , when the Davenport Hotel went into decline many years later , the city lost its heart . But when the hotel returned
This was the “ Circus Room ” on the 7th floor , which in the 1930s was decorated with a kind of 3D mural of a circus parade all around , in honor of a friend of Davenport , an investment banker named Harper Joy , whose avocation was performing as a circus clown .
The painting by an unidentified artist was original to the hotel . Before restoration it had two holes in it ( said to be caused by aiming champagne corks at it ) and crude overpaintings covering a large number of pinhead-size paint losses in the top left corner .
The Hall of the Doges Photo : Melville Holmes
54 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE