Irving & Casson-A.H. Davenport Co.

Irving and Casson was a Boston, Massachusetts, firm of interior designers and furniture makers, founded in 1875. Its specialty was interior woodwork and mantels, but it also made furniture, primarily in the styles of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1914 or 1916, the firm merged with A.H. Davenport, a furniture company also located in Boston (both had factories in East Cambridge). A.H. Davenport, founded in [when?], became one of the largest and most prosperous furniture makers of the time after purchasing The Boston Furniture Company in 1880. Known for their exquisite craftsmanship and attention to the most inconspicuous details, A. H. Davenport and Company went on to make furniture for the mansions of the wealthy residents of the Back Bay, the White House under President Theodore Roosevelt, and Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

After the merger of Irving and Casson with A. H. Davenport, the company executed a number of commissions for Gothic Revival churches. They installed the Appalachian Mountain oak pews in the Heinz Memorial Chapel at the University of Pittsburgh (1933-38), said to be an architectural wonder, and executed all the woodwork in the Duke University Chapel (1930-35), including casework for the organ by Aeolian Organ Company. The company’s last major design commission was for the interiors for the United Nations buildings in New York City, executed in the 1950s. Irving and Casson-A.H. Davenport went out of business in 1974.