On one hand it could be said that The Davenport began with its opening in September of 1914. On the other hand it could be said that The Davenport really began in 1889 as two separate buildings, the Pennington Hotel and Davenport's Restaurant. In 1914, much of the block on which the hotel now stands was razed and the 14 story, 400 room Davenport built, incorporating the Pennington Hotel and parts of the Pfister Block with its magnificent Marie Antoinette Ball Room. This ball room was designed earlier by
Kirtland Cutter, the same architect responsible for the Davenport.
The hotel building now occupies two thirds of the block, with the still extant Pennington Hotel, incorporated as part of the Davenport, occupying the east one third of the block. The lower three floors occupy the entire footprint of the hotel, while the upper eleven floors form a "U" shape, facing south toward 1st. Avenue.
Unable to meet local building codes, the hotel was closed in 1985 and came perilously close to demolition when it was bought, in March of 2000, for $6.5 million and a further $37 million was poured into its restoration, culminating in its reopening in September of 2002.
The hotel was entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Davenport has been a bookcrossing zone since 2004, with the first book, Valiant Papers, by C. Miller, being released into the hotel on Friday, September 17, 2004. The last known release, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer, was released on Friday, November 17, 2017. There have been 17 books released here, probably at various points all over the hotel.