Architectural Digest visits Fleming’s Goldeneye house

From the “things we found while looking something else up” file:

The April, 2000 issue of Architectural Digest magazine carried a nice-sized piece on Ian Fleming’s Jamaican pied-à-terre, the house famously called Goldeneye.

Although the bulk of the article is about the house’s new life as a hotel — under the ownership of PolyGram records magnate Chris Blackwell — there’s a good deal information on the house’s history vis-à-vis the creator of James Bond. Here’s a little taste of one of his no-doubt typically grueling days:

“… attended by Violet the housekeeper, Daisy the cook, Holmes the factor, Hall the houseboy and Stewart the fisherman, Ian passed halcyon days at Goldeneye: bathing naked at sunrise be-fore a breakfast of scrambled eggs, pawpaw and Blue Mountain coffee; caressed at nine by the freshening “doctor’s wind” that wafted in from the sea; then reading in the sunken garden; poking around underwater in mask and fins; and from time to time entertaining the likes of sun-seeking socialites, politicians, artists and writers.”

Nice work if you can get it!

There’s also a fascinating little tidbit about the connection between Fleming and Blackwell, which you can read about for yourself. The article, along with ten very nice photographs of the joint, can be found at Architectural Digest’s website in the “Hotels” section of their archives. Or, you can just CLICK THIS. We like to make it easy for you.