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According to Historic New England, “From cathedral altars to bedrooms, from the White House to a suburban home, Irving and Casson – A. H. Davenport Co. occupied a unique place in the history of American decorative arts. The partnership of carpenters Charles R. Irving (1842-1925) and Robert Casson (1848-1931) started in 1874. Beginning with the production of wood mantels and interior finishes, their firm expanded to include furniture among its product offerings. Irving and Casson worked with well-known architects such as Ralph Adams Cram and began to supply these architects with furnishings with a particular expertise in Gothic Revival church interiors. Albert H. Davenport’s business acumen and the artistic talent of his chief designer Francis H. Bacon (1856-1940) helped turn his firm into one of the country’s most successful all-purpose design firms. From its showrooms in Boston and New York, the firm served business magnates such as Henry Clay Frick, F. W. Woolworth, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, and George Eastman as well as middle-class clients. Prominent architects such as H. H. Richardson; McKim, Mead, and White; Peabody and Stearns; and Little and Brown hired the firm to execute many of their designs. Notable commissions included 225 pieces of furniture for the Iolani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii, during the early 1880s as well as work for the 1902 White House renovation. The two businesses merged in 1914 to create Irving and Casson – A. H. Davenport Co. The firm’s business began to decline in the mid-twentieth century and its last major commission was interior work on the United Nations headquarters in New York. Irving and Casson – A. H. Davenport Co. ceased operations about 1973.