“It helps to do the renovations in the first few months, when you have more energy and ambition, because otherwise you’ll lose interest and never get around to fixing things,” Jenrette says. “But Edgewater has always been a magical setting. One day, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, friends of Gore’s from the old days, stopped by when I was here to see the house again. And Truman Capote came to visit, spending most of the day by the pool drinking and gossiping.

“For entertaining, the house works on all different levels—putting on a tweed coat and tie for a candle-lit dinner for four on the terrace overlooking the Hudson, or things on a larger scale,” he continues. “Hillary Clinton has been here twice, and I told her she was at least the third first lady to visit Edgewater. And in 1984, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in rather imperial style, we hired a train to bring 400 or so clients up from New York one evening. The railroad cars stopped right in front of the rear courtyard where we served champagne, and my guests walked through the house to the view of the river from the porch and lawn. Some of my friends had come by yacht, and we really had a stunning sunset that evening.”

Jenrette is nothing if not meticulous, perhaps even a bit obsessive, and his quest to return the house to the glories of the early 19th century has been successful. Through his antiques-world sources, he tracked down some of the wayward possessions of the original owners: a harp, Duncan Phyfe dining room chairs, family portraits of Julia Livingston, sister of Margaretta Livingston Brown and Porcelaine de Paris gold-stamped with the letter “L” for Livingston. It’s all in the details.

Tom Austin is ART & ANTIQUES’ Miami correspondent and a freelance art critic for The Miami Herald.