Built in the style of a French chateau, with a palatial roofline rising
high over the River Thames, Whitehall Court is one of Britain's grandest
private buildings, bottom right. The imposing Victorian pile, which was
once the HQ of the Secret Intelligence Services, has also provided
homes to a host of famous artists and writers - including George Bernard
Shaw and Oscar Wilde - society figures, political grandees, and two
Prime Ministers, Alec Douglas-Home and William Ewart Gladstone. On the
seventh floor, Igor Shuvalov, pictured top right with Vladimir Putin and
his wife Olga, have knocked through two of these £5m flats to create a
single six-bedroom, 5,300 square foot apartment with sweeping views over
Big Ben. In 2014, they paid £11.4 million for the property - along with
£800,000 in stamp duty. Andrey Guryev Jnr, inset, who is married to
Valeria, centre, belong to a family who owns London's biggest home
Witanhurst, inset. Andrey Goncharenko and his wife Marina, top left, own
four luxury homes including one on Eaton Square, bottom right, writes
GUY ADAMS.