Grand, but Still Homey

Part II about refurbishing The White Hart

When Scott and Roxanne Bok asked Matthew Patrick Smyth to design a totally renovated White Hart, they wanted comfortable, low-key luxury that felt both homey and special. 

   Particularly in the rooms. 

   What Smyth gave them is 16 suites and one room, each combining factory-made pieces with one-offs, gorgeous bathrooms, top-of-the-line amenities (as hoteliers like to call soap and shampoo) and Frette linens.

   The suites are similar but not uniform.  Smyth spent a day at the North Carolina Furniture Mart selecting beds in dark woods — some antique reproductions, some more contemporary — chests, sofas, sofabeds, chairs and tables. Even some writing desks.

   In some suites, local carpenters crafted built-in chests of drawers or bedside tables which are also mini-bars. Accessories vary from room to room:  four bull’s-eye mirrors Smyth found in Hudson, NY; art that features the area; Oriental rugs from Hammertown in Pine Plains; lamps from Great Barrington. 

   Blinds come from Jim Wexell, who also hung all the pictures and wall decorations throughout the inn; and the curtains were sewn in Connecticut workshops.

   Keeping the rooms in guest-ready condition requires special staff training and a check list supervised by experienced housekeepers according to Tamara Hengen-Eite, the not-yet-30-year-old general manager, who personally selects every member of the non-kitchen staff.  Hengen-Eite, who has worked at the inn for nearly a decade, is pretty, petite and calm but — I suspect — demanding.  She says Smyth asked for her suggestions and incorporated them.

   Of course, it is the flowing sweep of dining space that most non-guest, casual visitors will see. Surprisingly, one enters the hotel directly from the dining verandah and through an area with two dining sofas, four tables and chairs. (Reception is now behind.) To the right is a concierge desk (a lectern, really) and a small, intimate dining room with large blow-ups of woodblock Connecticut scenes covering the walls. (Smyth found these online and had them enlarged.)

   The main dining room is to the left.  Dark wood paneling and dark red wall covering remind me of the old Plaza Hotel.  In both this room and the entry dining area, Emily Buchanan’s landscapes of recognizable local scenes hang in her usual simple but big gold frames. They glow.  Oddly there are no floor coverings in any of these dining areas, just warmly polished new wood floors. A little bare perhaps.

   For most locals, the Pub Room was the most distinctive (one tries to forget the appalling floral dining room) and welcoming part of the inn.  It looks and feels just as it did, even though the floor and all furniture are new.  Smyth even kept the William Morris wallpaper, which most visitors thought was old but which has actually been up less than three years.  He did add new window treatments.

   All this change has produced comment, mostly favorable.

   But it’s the new menu and cooking that has people talking most.  More about that and new chef David Miller next week.