The Russian oligarch who saw his £25 million dream home destroyed in a fire only months before he was due to move in has vowed to complete the project.
Omar Murtuzaliev, 53, was flying to London today to see for himself the extent of the damage caused by the blaze, which broke out in the basement and tore through all six storeys of the property in Bayswater.
Neighbours, including the Duchess of Cornwall’s son Tom Parker Bowles and his family, were forced to flee in the early hours of Saturday as 60 firefighters battled to prevent it spreading to adjacent homes.
The flames were so intense there were fears they would affect mansion blocks across the street, whose residents include Aztec Camera singer Roddy Frame.
Mr Murtuzaliev is a friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin and a top official in the country’s Olympic wrestling squad. He originally bought the property in Palace Court as apartments for his children, but decided to turn it into one vast family home, according to architect Alan Gower.
After a lengthy battle with Westminster council, Mr Gower secured planning permission to excavate a double basement and install a swimming pool, gym, Turkish bath, sauna and plunge pool.
The 10-bedroom house also features a cinema, ballroom, 7.5-tonne marine aquarium, wine cellar and “strongroom”. A perimeter wall featuring stone carvings was said to have cost £2 million.
“I was gutted for him,” Mr Gower said of his client. “It was such an individualist project. He put his heart and soul into it. In the next six months it would have been finished. It will be rebuilt. It was really extravagantly finished inside — he had Russian designers. It’s more Arabic, I would say, with mosaics and gold dripping everywhere.”
Mr Gower said it was likely to take “years” to complete the project, with the end-of-terrace house likely to be worth £40 million to £50 million when finished. However, neighbours fear there will be further disruption after enduring years of construction work by Mr Murtuzaliev’s Kensington-based firm, Tiko Construction.
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A fire brigade spokeswoman said the cause of the blaze remained under investigation, with a specialist team expected to remain on site today.
