Welcome News For All Generations

Thu., May 18, 2000

By Rebecca Nappi rebeccan@spokesman.com (509) 459-5496

In the movie “The Shining,” based on a Stephen King novel, ghostly 1930s characters roam around an elegant hotel ballroom wearing ballgowns and tuxes. They slowly drive insane the movie’s main character, who is the caretaker of the vacant resort hotel. It’s a scary movie.

In recent years, it’s been hard to drive by the deserted Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane and not imagine that another version of “The Shining” could be filmed there. All those empty hotel rooms, all the history, all the memories, all the decay. In 1985, the hotel closed its doors to overnight guests. Now the building looks a bit scary because it seems so empty.

The lobby and some ballrooms did reopen on occasion for special events during the 1990s but the rooms had a dispirited air about them. They smelled of mildew and passing time. Sad.

On Monday, fresh air breezed into the Davenport. Walt and Karen Worthy, who decades ago went on dinner dates at the hotel’s Matador Room, purchased the 86-year-old hotel through a pair of land trades with the current owners, Davenport Sun International Hotels. The Worthys plan to restore it as a luxury hotel. Their actions will save a landmark, Spokane’s finest and favorite.

Thank you.

Thank you from the women and men who grew up with the Davenport, danced there at weddings and proms and tea dances, put their relatives up there, felt proud when world greats, such as Charles Lindbergh and Harry Truman, stayed at the Davenport.

Thank you from the women and men who didn’t grow up with memories of the hotel but moved here and felt grateful that Spokane had preserved such a grand building, designed by famed architect Kirtland Cutter.

Thank you from the future generations that will now hold their proms and weddings there, put their relatives up at the hotel and feel proud when future world greats stay at the Davenport.

The Worthys have much work ahead of them. Restoring a 400-room hotel won’t be easy, even though the Worthys have a solid history of building restoration. They’ll need all the skills they’ve gathered from more than 20 years of renovating commercial property in Spokane.

They’ll also need help from city officials and nearby businesses to figure out a solution to the parking situation. They may require many kinds of community support, as they venture into the nitty gritty of restoration work.

A restored Davenport Hotel will be one more jewel in the crown of downtown Spokane. We can’t wait to see Cutter’s masterpiece sparkle once more.

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