Spokane's 1914 Kirtland Cutter landmark, now a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, with two of the city's most documented ghost stories: a 1920 fatal skylight fall and the spirit of founder Louis Davenport.
10 S Post St, Spokane, WA 99201
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Standard hotel room rates; lobby and public spaces freely accessible to non-guests.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully accessible historic hotel with elevators and ramps.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1914 · Designed by Kirtland Cutter, Spokane's most prominent Gilded Age architect · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places · One of the earliest U.S. hotels with central air conditioning (1914) · Saved from demolition by 2002 Worthy restoration following 17-year vacancy
The Historic Davenport Hotel was built in 1913-14 for Spokane restaurateur Louis M. Davenport, who had operated the celebrated Davenport's Restaurant on the same block. Architect Kirtland Cutter, working with associate Karl Malmgren, produced a hotel whose interiors blended elements from Italy, France, England, Spain, and Imperial Russia. The building cost $2 million (roughly $64 million in 2025 dollars) and went up in eight months in 1913 using horse carts, steam jacks, and hand tools, with no worker fatalities — unusual for the period.
The hotel opened to the public on September 1, 1914. At opening it offered amenities considered remarkable for the era: central air conditioning, a central vacuum system, dividing doors in the ballrooms, and a pipe organ in the lobby. Cutter himself lit the first fire in the lobby fireplace, beginning the hotel's tradition that the fire would always burn as a symbol of hospitality.
Louis Davenport lived in a personal suite at the hotel and died there in 1951; his widow Verus died in the same suite in 1967. The hotel changed hands several times after Davenport's death and ultimately closed in 1985, then sat vacant and deteriorating for 17 years. In 2002, Spokane developers Walt and Karen Worthy bought the building for $6.5 million and undertook a $38 million restoration; the hotel reopened on July 15, 2002.
The Davenport is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now part of Marriott's Autograph Collection. It anchors what is now branded as the Historic Davenport District in downtown Spokane.
Sources
The Davenport's most-corroborated ghost story is Ellen McNamara, a 68-year-old wealthy widow from New York who was touring the West with her sister and cousins in August 1920. According to a Spokesman-Review historical investigation, while her party went to dinner in the Isabella Room, McNamara walked onto the third-floor cement walkway, then passed through a door into the pagoda structure that covered the lobby skylight. She fell through the Tiffany skylight to the marble lobby floor. Per the hotel's records cited by the Spokesman-Review, she was briefly conscious and asked 'Where did I go?' before becoming insensible; she died hours later. Guests and staff have since reported a woman in 1920s clothing peering over the mezzanine railing toward the lobby below, as if looking for her party.
The second narrative belongs to Louis M. Davenport himself. According to KREM, KXLY, and Inlander coverage, Davenport lived in Suite 1103 until his death in 1951 and reportedly said in life, 'I never want to leave here.' His wife Verus died in the same suite in 1967. Night-shift staff have reported a figure in a bathrobe and slippers walking the hallways, matching Davenport's documented habit of late-night walks through his hotel.
Local coverage also references a 1973 employee homicide (Archie Gonia) and additional miscellaneous sightings, though these are less widely reported. The Spokesman-Review's 2005 'Davenport ghost has roots in fact' feature is notable in the genre because it confirmed McNamara's death through period newspaper accounts before relating the modern lore — a level of documentary anchoring uncommon for hotel ghost stories.
Notable Entities
Book a room or suite at the 1914 Cutter-designed flagship; the mezzanine where the 1920 skylight fall occurred and the upper-floor suite where Louis Davenport lived and died in 1951 are part of the hotel's lore. (Ghost-tour accounts most commonly cite Suite 1103; historical records indicate Davenport's actual residence was Room 1128 — the discrepancy likely reflects post-renovation renumbering.)
Walk the restored lobby with its hand-painted ceiling and visit the Peacock Room bar; non-guests may freely tour public spaces.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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