BOSTON UNCOMMON
BY JEREMY WAYNE PHOTOGRAPHS BY JAMES BAIGRIE
WANDERS
TRAVEL
There is an ‘on-off’ simplicity of design to The Whitney, Boston’s new 65-room luxury hotel, handily situated at the corner of Charles and Cambridge streets, where Beacon Hill brushes the Charles River. Take the light switches: They go on, they go off. No degree in electronics, no expertise in wiring needed. I love that. Ditto the drapes. You pull them this way, they close. Pull them the other way, they open. Design has always been a doubleedged sword, where style and innovation are often at odds with ease and comfort, and design and technology are not always a partnership for good. For my part, I have enough problems grasping the technology in my own, relatively tech-light home, where I have had years to absorb it (the TV remote, for instances,) so I certainly don’t want to have to learn new tech-tricks merely for an overnight stay. Functionality in design can be a pleasurable thing and it becomes even more so when married with great aesthetics. It’s this combination at the end of the day, or even the beginning — as I check into the hotel on a mid-winter day, shimmering with glorious, electric blue Boston light — that The Whitney offers in spades. At the hotel entrance on Charles Street, where pulling up in a car or cab is always straightforward, my car is whisked away instantly by the valet. I will be happy not to see it again until my moment of departure, but I note the modest overnight parking fee includes in-and-out privileges. (Do you hear that, New York? In-and-out privileges. How very unManhattan.) The doorman, concierge and valet, working well as a team, all know my
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WAGMAG.COM
MARCH 2020
