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Massachusetts
The Experience
Of all the hotels in the Berkshires -- the preferred weekend haunt for many a stressed-out Northeastern urbanite -- there's none quite so beautiful as this Peabody and Stearns-designed Italianate palazzo, built in the late 1800s (by a Manhattan financier for his daughter) but inspired by 16th-century Florentine architecture. Even the surrounding land has a pedigree -- Frederick Law Olmsted (a.k.a. Mr. Central Park) was brought in to do the landscaping. For years, it was a working farm. Today, the 380-acre spread within walking distance of Tanglewood (the summer home of the Boston Symphony) is one giant backyard for the lucky few who can get a weekend booking.
The RoomsA makeover by white-hot architects Tsao & McKown that took four years resulted in gracious, cool interiors that mix the very best of the old (like antique soaking tubs and perfectly preserved antique furniture) with the most exciting of the new (like contemporary abstract paintings). Book a first-floor room for its broad terraces and soaring parlor-floor ceiling heights, but skip the skimpy standards -- they're just 10' x 14'. Instead, snag an extravagant Terrace Suite, an indoor-outdoor treat with park views. You'll have thick double doors to keep lobby and dining room sound out, sumptuous Frette linens and Maison du Chocolat turndown tidbits.
The ServiceA young international cast carries itself with more than a measure of fussiness -- rushing out with an ashtray to guests smoking on the porch to avoid any mote of ash dropping on the pavement, or making something of a to-do of clearing plates between courses in the dining room.
The HighlightsChef J. Bryce Whittlesey has achieved fame for his skills and also some notoriety for his tendency to weave chocolate into surprising places -- often successfully. But the real treat here comes from forgoing the formal dining room for the cozier banquettes in The Library, next door, where you eat simpler fare like an elegant foursome of soups, Asian-inflected Maine mussels and house-smoked Scottish salmon.
-- Andrea Bennett
