The Irving House doesn’t spam its patrons with green travel eco-literature. Instead of suffocating newcomers with little signs of green bragging rights, the house stays quietly and confidently green, and people who are interested enough to learn will recognize the valid and successful efforts. Stunning, dark-wood couches, salvaged from “trash dives” and reupholstered with elegant, eye-catching material serve as a surprising (and quite comfy) addition to the green list. Local art makes colorful statements on every wall.
Downstairs, a common refrigerator uses less energy than having 44 in-room refrigerators, and also gives people a chance to save leftovers from any one of Boston’s sublime restaurants. A filtered water fountain makes it easy to refill the free reusable bottles provided by the house, so guests don’t have to buy and waste disposable ones. Across the hall, guests throw food scraps a compost station. Inside the container, eggshells and coffee grounds wait to be mashed up, composted, and served to plants.
The breakfast area is simple. “I don’t know what you want for breakfast, and I’m not going to tell you what to have,” says Solem, matter-of-factly. “I just want the guests to be completely comfortable, whether they’re reading the newspaper, or just sitting at the table alone.” The newspaper she mentioned is, indeed, only one newspaper. While three different news sources arrive daily, only one copy of each gets provided. This way, she says, they don’t waste paper, and guests are forced to chat when they need the sports section. Enticing smells of organic breakfast foods and treats from local bakeries warm the kitchen, and no sense of pomp or stately grace goes into the ritual of eating, cleaning up, or anything else.
“We are not at all hovering,” says Solem, about providing her guests with a unique green travel experience. Visitors here roam freely, make their own decisions, and even provide feedback – which Solem craves. Whether it’s a staff person’s idea about soap dispensers (the method for distribution of bathroom products, reducing packaging), or a guest’s suggestion about energy savings, Solem can’t wait to hear it.
“You can’t get stuck,” she says, wisely. Although she strongly encourages green initiatives like using public transportation, visiting attractions within walking distance, and reusing linens, the choice is always up to the individual.
Whether you stroll in wearing hemp shoes, or haven’t recycled a piece of paper in your life, it’s nearly impossible not to be a green traveler here, since every area of the house contributes to sustainability in its own way. Staff washes linens using high-efficiency washers and driers in the basement, and leave towels in the rooms if guests have opted to reused them. Workers here also sift through garbage after they’ve cleaned each room, and they meticulously separate recyclables from non-recyclables. Bins in each hallway give visitors the opportunity to do it themselves, but even if they don’t, the service staff here will. All-natural shampoos, soaps, and lotions spout from dispensers in each bathroom, and automatic hand-driers eliminate the need for paper towels.
On the subject of green travel, and how bed and breakfasts differ from luxurious green-minded hotels, she smiles and says, “We’re all in the same business. It’s just a matter of style.” Her personal style comes from the house’s historical character and story. She reminisces about when she first bought the place, and its dreadful state. Before she could open the Irving House, Solem spent time and money revamping the place. Aiming to put a clock radio in every room, she instead had to use that money toward curtains and bedspreads.
“They [the old curtains] disintegrated,” she says, laughing, “I think they were actually being held together by dust.” So with her hands working the sewing machine, and a phone cradled between her shoulder and her ear, Rachael Solem made The Irving House’s first set of reservations and second set of curtains. After years of progress, many renovations, and environmentally conscious decisions, she has grown the inn to be an eco-chic haven.
But as green as the house is already, Solem is still eager to move forward. Changing the heat system sits high on her wish list. Pulling feedback from her customers, she learned that most people want the ability to control the temperature in individual rooms. She wants to find a way to keep the entire building at 55 degrees, and allow each guest to control the heat from there. Utilizing a more efficient system also removes the need for heating in unoccupied rooms.
Solem’s creative spirit shakes loose when she talks about plans to redesign. Ultimately, she wants the four floors of the Irving House to aesthetically mimic the four layers of the earth, starting from the dirt, then to plants, up to the sky, and further upwards into the solar system. “We have finally reached the point where we can pay more attention to the niceties of design and have some fun with it. So, for the first time we have hired a professional and we are working (slowly, reusing as much as possible, looking for best environmentally sound products) on this remake. We hope to have it all done by spring of 2010.”
It’s onwards an upwards for this quaint green house. Book yourself a flight to Boston to visit this historical Cambridge green gem.
Andrea Mooney
© Cheapflights Ltd
May 2009
