Island of the Damned (10 page)

Soon after Sam’s death, Irene pursued her dream of running what she called “something between a posh hotel and a grand boarding house”. Her house provided a palatial setting for all sorts of events, with its first floor ballroom, a replica of Queen Marie Antoinette’s Music Room at Versailles. Other rooms were decorated with marble, oak panelling and gilt, overflowing with works of art and theatrical memorabilia. On the roof terrace above Irene’s private duplex, a lush garden, which she tended expertly, was illuminated by night. Here she created nine luxury apartments. With average monthly rents of $6000, and double that for the grandest suites, this was no ordinary tourist B&B. Tenants included media tycoons and businessmen ; show business stars including Chaka Khan, Daniel Day Lewis, actress Brooke Hayward and her former husband, the bandleader Peter Duchin. From England, regular visitors included the Marquess and Marchioness of Northampton. Some lived at the mansion for up to a dozen or more years and became friends.

Irene relied closely on instinct in choosing her tenants. She insisted they had to be interesting and easy to get on with, her ambition being to recreate the atmosphere of an 18
th
century Parisian
salon
. Seminars and lectures on art, fashion and history were held by visiting academics; there were fashion shows, book readings, music recitals. She often wined and dined her regulars and brought them expensive gifts. Some might find Silverman’s antique silver service and a bottle of champagne left in their dining room when she knew they were holding a special party. One, who embarked on a romance with a new girlfriend, came home one day to find his old bed had been replaced with a larger one. The venture flourished thanks to Silverman’s irrepressible humour and talent for enthralling guests with her stories. The one mistake you didn’t make, said Peter Duchin, was to dismiss her as a dizzy eccentric or to underestimate her acute business sense. “She conducted the business with meticulous attention to detail. She insisted on referrals and credit checks before allowing anyone to rent an apartment. Tenancy renewals and rent increases were conducted through her lawyers. She thought that in her universe, which was this house, she should know everything that goes on, and she did.”