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Gucci tycoon's home has price slashed by £5m
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Affairs Editor12 Dec 2008
IT is a riot of kitsch, gothic, occultism, and baroque in one of London's most desirable streets, once owned by a millionaire watchmaker who called himself the Black Beast.
Now this extraordinary eight-bedroom, nine-bathroom Chelsea flat is for sale at a bargain price ... well, relatively speaking.
The home in The Vale is owned by the estate of Severin Wunderman, the eccentric behind Gucci Timepieces who died in June at the age of 69. It went on the market at the start of the year for £15.5million. Now the asking price is £10.5million and estate agencies Hamptons and Knight Frank expect it to go below £10million.
It is one of the starkest examples of the deep price reductions sellers are now having to accept as the economy falters.
Whoever buys the home would do well to enjoy Wunderman's unique taste. The panelled study is decorated with skulls and masonic symbols, while a giant gold-leaf ram's head is at the bottom of the bannisters. In the large garden a gothic "hobbit house" serves as guest accommodation.
Mr Wunderman, born to a Jewish family in Belgium in 1938, sold his hugely successful Gucci business in the Nineties and bought the Swiss brand Corum.
The obsession with death dates to a lung cancer scare a decade ago when he was given 30 days to live. Mr Wunderman, who described himself as "the black beast", told an interviewer: "I have this stuff because I am interested in death ... I thought I'd better check where I'm going to."
