Movie mogul’s £6m London mansion collapses during ‘iceberg’ basement work

Chelsea property belonged to the family of late executive Arthur Abeles

Durham Place, London
The row of town houses in Durham Place, London, before the collapse
(Image credit: Michael Gruber)

Dozens of people were forced to flee a west London street in the early hours yesterday after a mansion owned by a Hollywood film executive’s family collapsed during building work to extend the basement.

Neighbours told The Telegraph that they heard a bang “as loud as thunder” and a “loud crash” before running outside to discover that the large mid-terraced house in Chelsea had been completely destroyed.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.