Ritchie’s £6 million Holmes makeover

Guy Ritchie’s obsession with Sherlock Holmes has inspired the design of his £6 million home.

Interior designer Nicola Fontanella, who is overseeing the project, says Ritchie has asked for a series of features befitting Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective to be built into the Fitzroy Square property — not far from Baker Street.

They include concealed doorways and secret spaces hidden behind panels, while a room packed with exotic and poisonous plants is also said to be on Ritchie’s wish list. Ms Fontanella said: “He wants everything to look like it does in Sherlock Holmes.”

The film director bought two adjoining five-storey properties in 2010 with the aim of turning them into one home. He has apparently requested every feature be in “period style” and has battled squatters and planning rules relating to the Grade I-listed building to get work under way. A large team of builders is on site. Linda Tapaszti, 30, a caterer working next door, said: “They demolished the whole back part about a year ago. The wall is still down.”

The project, which also includes adding a basement and solar panels, should be finished by the end of the year when Ritchie is expected to move in with model Jacqui Ainsley, 30, who gave birth to their first child in September. Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes was a hit in 2009 and the sequel, A Game Of Shadows, came out last year.

After agreeing to direct the first instalment he told Esquire magazine: “Holmes was a gentleman, but also a street guy who could scruff it up a bit. I like street life, but I like grand things, too.

“Being able to move within those two worlds appealed to me. Besides, he was the West’s first martial artist.”

Work at Ritchie’s home was delayed last year when squatters set up the “Really Free School”, offering lessons in anarchy, social media and tarot reading. They were evicted despite an online call for help urging: “Come sleepover in the most rah property in London.”

Fontanella, who was speaking in the Sunday Times, decorated two homes for Madonna, the director’s ex-wife