A Russian tycoon once feared to be on a Kremlin hit list has been ordered to rip out a luxury hotel-style revamp of his London apartment.
Energy magnate Yury Zhelyabovskiy carried out sweeping renovations to his Grade II-listed residence in Bayswater without securing planning permission from Westminster Council.
The unauthorised changes to the Victorian apartment, right by Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, stripped out original features and left the period home looking more like a boutique hotel, officials ruled.
Mr Zhelyabovskiy has now been ordered to restore the two-bed apartment to its original layout after losing an appeal.
Planning inspector Simon Hand concluded the revamped rooms ‘now look like modern hotel rooms rather than parts of an early Victorian villa’.
The council launched enforcement action last November after internal walls were knocked down, ceilings lowered and historic details removed in the plush W2 postcode, where apartments routinely sell for more than £2 million.
Works included carving an en-suite bathroom out of a large curved bedroom, ripping out a historic timber sash window and brickwork, and installing aluminium bi-fold doors.
Air conditioning and modern LED spotlights were also fitted.
Pictured: The Victorian apartment building, right by Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park
Pictured: The entrance to the main apartment building. Energy magnate Yury Zhelyabovskiy carried out sweeping renovations to his Grade II-listed residence in Bayswater
Pictured: The entrance to the ground floor flat. The renovations stripped out original features and left the period home looking more like a boutique hotel
In an enforcement notice seen by the Daily Mail, the council said the works had ’caused harm to the special architectural and historic interest of the Grade II listed building due to the loss of…historic features that were characteristic of the age and special interest of the property’.
It continued: ‘The addition of the air conditioning system and new lower-level spotlights have led to a mismatch of ceiling levels.
‘The excessively modern fixtures and fittings have been installed without any regard for the age and style of the Grade II listed building and fail to match or complement the property.’
Council officials claimed the changes resulted in ‘modern visual clutter that detracts from the original historic features’ and harmed the ‘traditional and historic character’ of the Bayswater Conservation Area.
Mr Zhelyabovskiy, 50, appealed, claiming some works – including air conditioning – were ‘urgently necessary in the interests of health, safety or to preserve the building’.
But Mr Hand dismissed the argument, saying: ‘Safety and health…means that the building is likely to collapse and injure someone without urgent works to prop it up, not that the occupiers would like hot water on tap.’
‘The works described…appear to be just the preference of the developer and were not ‘urgently necessary’ at all.’
Mr Zhelyabovskiy argued that the internal remodelling did not affect the architectural interest of the white-fronted Victorian villa apartment, which last sold for £1.15m in 2013, according to sales records.
The council launched enforcement action last November after internal walls were knocked down, ceilings lowered and historic details removed
Pictured: One of the bedrooms inside the apartment with its new ceiling and air conditioning unit
However, the inspector said consent was clearly required, noting the removal of the front door, the loss of a curved wall and the replacement of a historic window with large modern glass doors that ‘look wholly out of place’.
Mr Hand said: ‘Ceilings have been lowered in the living room and bedroom two to accommodate air-conditioning and ceiling lights.
‘Quite clearly these changes affected the special historic interest of the building.’
The appeal failed on almost every point, with the sole exception of a modern metal hot water tank in a rear lightwell, which was allowed to remain.
Everything else must go, with Mr Zhelyabovskiy now given six months to comply.
The owners of the building are listed as Bollywood stars Kajol and Ajay Devgan, who have a portfolio of properties in India and overseas.
Mr Zhelyabovskiy, formerly in charge of Russian energy group EnergoStream, is believed to have moved to the UK around 13 years ago.
In 2017 he was named in a dossier of 22 UK-based exiles labelled by the Kremlin as ‘fugitives of justice’.
Pictured: The inside of the home before the wall was removed and ceiling was changed
Pictured: The hallway of the Grade II-listed residence in Bayswater before it was renovated
The Russian Embassy in London tweeted a link to the names of the businessmen and businesswomen in March 2017 accompanied with the question: ‘Why are fugitives from justice welcome in the UK?’ and an image of a ‘WANTED’ stamp.
It went on to say: ‘It never fails to amaze us that the Russian citizens who fled to the UK as fugitives, while here become British subjects.
‘Harbouring Russian fugitives does not do the British Government credit in the eyes of Russian public opinion and the international community.’
One man on the list, Nikolai Glushkov – a former associate of oligarch Boris Berezovsky – was later found dead in his London home after Britain refused a Russian extradition request.
Russia previously sought Mr Zhelyabovskiy’s extradition in 2015 accusing him of fraud, but the bid was rejected by UK authorities.
After the list was published, Russian exiles in the UK feared to be Kremlin targets were contacted by police and given security briefings.
