Art in Lobby
It’s hard to focus when you first enter the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common. The walls are decorated with paintings, portraits and sketches that each tell a unique story, surrounded by sculptures of blown glass and clay that stand at attention at various desks and tables in the lobby. The art – like the hotel – makes a statement: luxury extends all forms and figures.
The $1 million art collection at the Boston hotel blends with the sophistication and class the Ritz-Carlton is famous for, and no detail is left unturned on the walls of this hotel. The best part? The art tour is narrated by Ritz-Carlton Boston Common staff, who each picked their favorite piece to detail in the hotel’s iPod art tour.
Art in foyer at Ritz-Carlton Boston
I started my art tour in the foyer gazing at black-and-white abstract prints that resembled something of blobs on white paper with shapes of frogs, lizards and fish weaved in between the circular shapes. I was confused, but intrigued. I moved on to the charcoal painting over the fireplace and then admired the blown-glass sculpture on the concierge desk. (My full art review will appear on Gadling.com later this week). The art tour ended within 30 minutes and I made my way back to my room, where I found a new angle to the art in the building.
The hotel features 193 guestrooms, including 43 suites, most with spectacular views of Boston Common and the Boston Gardens. Some rooms have views of the copper-domed State House, but my room hosted a different kind of art: a poetic view of Boston from an angle I had never seen before.
A New Yorker at heart, I’ve always had a fondness for Central Park, but looking out the window in room 1072 at the Ritz-Carlton Boston, I saw in the Boston Common what I’ve always known in Central Park: pure beauty. The Ritz is perfectly poised at the top of a 10-story building (the rooms are on floors 10-12), allowing perfect aerial views of Boston.
I sipped my glass of Merlot (which I poured from the hotel’s Club Lounge) and watched the sky turn colors over the green park as the sun set behind the hotel. People moved fast to get where they needed to be, but some were parked on benches in the park just watching the people walk by. I’ve been on those benches watching the world walk by many times, but seeing the hustle-and-bustle of the city from atop the Ritz-Carlton provided a new view of my home city.
View from room 1072, Ritz-Carlton Boston Common
While the art collection in the hotel is one-of-a-kind, the art-in-motion I witnessed from my room was the perfect representation of my city.
