Barnet fire engulfed £4.5m Millionaire's Row mansion that was being turned into dream home

A Millionaire's Row was being transformed into a dream family home, neighbours said.

Around 70 firefighters rushed to Hollybush House, a Grade II-listed property in Barnet, north , when . The property, in highly sought after area of Hadley Green, was currently undergoing extensive renovations to restore the building, planning documents submitted to show.

And neighbours said the owners had ploughed in thousands of pounds to carry out the works, which included repairing the roof and laying stone flooring in the hallway. They also wanted to reopen a historic fireplace in the first floor master bedroom, it is believed.

The applicant for the works is Robert and Helen Speroni, and reports the former is the managing director of £80million turnover building products firm Radmat. A Helen Speroni is also listed on Companies House as a director.

Neighbours, some of whom have lived in the area for the last two decades, said the 18th century mansion was sold in around 2020 to the Speronis in a multi-million-pound deal. The previous owner, Janet Fernau, founded charity Haemochromatosis UK in 1990 and was appointed an MBE for her services to healthcare, but died in 2023.

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One neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "We live around here and they've been doing renovation work for ages on it. It's just so that a fire would start at that time on a bank holiday Monday. Makes no sense."

Steve Clarke, 60, told the building was a "complete house" with it "close to being ready". He said: "When I heard about it this morning, I didn't think it would look like that, you can see it's got no roof or windows."

And Jacqui Beaumont, a teacher in her 60s, who lives nearby, said: "It would have been an utterly magnificent house with a view across this beautiful green space that we're very lucky to enjoy here in Barnet. It looked pristine, but now it's been ruined."

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London Fire Brigade used 32-metre turntable ladders to tackle the blaze from above. The service battled through the night to save as much of Hollybush House as they could.

But pictures since taken at the scene show much of the sprawling nine-bed home is now gone. The cause of the blaze is not known at this time, London Fire Brigade continued.

The road is home to scores of detached houses with seven-figure price tags. Hollybush House was built in the late 1700s and boasts six bedrooms in the main home - one with its own roof garden - and three more in an attached "cottage".