But regularly using the storied space is something that Governor Charlie Baker is eschewing, opting to do his daily work in a smaller, much plainer (cream walls) office a few doors down.

True, the gig comes with some perks, including an ornate, historic, high-ceilinged State House office, painted in the original 18th-century Bulfinch green. There a governor can sit back and admire the massive chandelier, or enjoy the big fireplace.

Being governor of Massachusetts can be a thankless job. Endless crises with no easy answers. Massive pressure from advocacy groups and constituents. Choices that affect millions of people.

“I want a regular office where I can spill a cup of coffee and not worry about it,” Baker said Monday.


While Baker will use the official governor’s office for ceremonial purposes and to hold meetings, he’ll do his day-to-day work in an office that most recently was occupied by then-governor Deval Patrick’s chief of staff, according to Baker communications director Tim Buckley.

The decision to not use the traditional office, which Buckley said Baker made the week after he was elected governor, is a not-so-subtle symbolic choice and perhaps a little dig at his predecessor.

Nearly eight years ago, Patrick, then-freshly inaugurated, got caught up in a kerfuffle over more than $10,000 of spending on damask drapes for his State House office.

He ultimately repaid that money — and thousands more that had been used for other furnishings — to the state. But the early days of his administration were dogged by that controversy, as well as others, including one related his decision to lease a Cadillac for his official state car.

Baker campaigned for office pledging a state government as thrifty as the people of Massachusetts. And while his office decision is a small one that appears unlikely to save the state any money, it carries figurative weight.


Democratic strategist Scott Ferson said in an e-mail that he believes it sends a good message — “More in the center of the action and shows he intends to be hands on and informal.”

The office Baker will use lacks the detailed decoration of the traditional office. Neither ornate moldings nor big oil paintings appear on the wall.

The governor’s office used by Deval Patrick. Charlie Baker will use it for ceremonial events and meetings. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff/Globe Staff

When a reporter visited the space Monday evening, it had a feel of a chief executive’s digs at a small company. There was a wooden desk with a computer, a table with six chairs, two empty bookcases, a small fireplace, two windows, a TV, and not much else.

Susan Greendyke Lachevre, the art collections manager at the State House who knows its history well, said the governor’s office and the chamber of the Governor’s Council, a Colonial-era body that approves judicial picks, had been switched in the 1930s.

But, off the top of her head, she could not recall a governor not using one of the two rooms as the formal office during the 20th century — except temporary relocations during renovations.

Patrick worked out of temporary digs for some of his final year in office, while the executive suite underwent a significant restoration.

The whole governor’s suite — and a few other areas in the State House, which dates to the end of the 18th century — was renovated and restored with what Patrick staff called a “museum-quality” restoration that cost more than $11 million. For example, the walls of the governor’s office are now the original Bulfinch green, same as it was in 1798, instead of the light blue it had been painted before the restoration.


The renovation, completed last summer, included upgrades in the climate control, Wi-Fi, and safety and security systems for the suite.

As for Baker’s decision to use a smaller space, some observers see it as a harbinger of what he wants to accomplish in the coming four years: a state government downsized, simplified, and less ornate.

Or maybe he just wants to be able to eat lunch at his desk, without fretting that a spilled bowl of soup will damage a piece of history.

"I want a regular office where I can spill a cup of coffee and not worry about it," the governor said. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff

Pat Greenhouse of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos.