Dartblog

People have been asking me all summer to go see the new Inn, but I’ve not gotten around to it until now. And a good thing, too. For someone with a refined sensibility (just joshin’), the experience is not a pleasant one. The place is the Cambridge glitterati’s version of what New England should look like: shiny surfaces, expensive materials, just the opposite of the old-shoe Inn of yore.

But the end result should not be a surprise to us at all. Word from the inside is that some arrogant Boston doctor and his wife had a central role in designing the place. Disney Marriott anyone? Or just plain tacky?

The faux homey alcove off the lobby has far less genuine New England charm than the Hanover’s successfully designed Canoe Club restaurant — though it must have cost ten times as much.

A test of a design is its use: has anyone — anyone? — ever sat at the granite table in the center of the Inn’s lobby? Nope. And no one ever will (until someone in the administration reads this post, and orders go out that it is time to prove me wrong). Sigh.