Hi-tech and discreet style in Rupert and Wendi Murdoch’s Mayfair pad

After a long day running a multi-billion pound media empire – some would say running the world – earning admiration from some and a reputation as the devil incarnate among others, where does a man retire to put up his feet and enjoy a good barbie?

The answer is revealed in a remarkable tour inside the London home of the world’s most powerful media baron, Rupert Murdoch. The luxury penthouse apartment in Mayfair might not be as opulent as Citizen Kane’s Xanadu, but its impeccably discreet style conceals all the hi-tech flourishes a modern media emperor could wish for.

The pictures offer a rare insight into the private world of the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation when even he takes a break from the public eye. It is here that the tycoon, now 74, unwinds with his 37-year-old wife, Wendi Deng, when he is in town overseeing his British interests including BSkyB, the Sun and the Times. Surrounded by silk-lined walls and touch-pad lighting, the couple can lounge on a sofa watching their 62in plasma TV, take a drink from one of the giant glass-fronted Sub-Zero fridges in the kitchen and wander on to the rooftop terrace to dine off a state-of-the-art barbecue – if Murdoch’s old Australian habit survives the British weather.

At the time of the photo shoot the few personal touches in the apartment included two wedding photos, some Chinese ceramics and a hand-painted Chinese screen, as well as a revealing choice of books and a fridge containing the Murdochs’ shopping. The cupboards remain half-empty, save for a hat and tails and some Savile Row shirts still in their wrappings. The couple even allowed their design team to choose what children’s toys to buy for their two pre-school-age daughters, Grace and Chloe.

Murdoch, who has an estimated fortune of £4.2 billion and last year earned more than £25,000 a day, bought the apartment a number of years ago with his second wife, Anna, but rarely used it. Recently, however, he and Deng commissioned London-based Trevor Lahiff Architects to renovate the ‘tired’ property. Their not inconsiderable challenge, on a ‘tightish’ but undisclosed budget, was to create a hotel-style pied-à-terre where the Murdochs will spend 10 weeks a year, a home for their daughters as well as a venue for evening soirées where business – perhaps the uncertain inheritance of News Corp – will be discussed.

‘I think they liked us because they thought we would be practical,’ Carolyn Trevor, of Trevor Lahiff, told Wallpaper* magazine, which was granted special access to the apartment for its new issue. ‘They pretty much let me get on with it. The budget was fairly tight, but we still managed with change to spare.’

Out went the previous decor of gold taps and reproduction Louis XV fireplaces. The Murdochs requested more room to entertain guests and increased wall space to hang a growing collection of contemporary Australian art, including works by Arthur Boyd. Deng had objections to the entrance, which was at the bottom of a spiral staircase, so this was demolished and replaced by a cantilevered steel stairway leading to two upper floors. An automatic glass ceiling opens to the roof terrace, where half a dozen satellite dishes are hidden away in cupboards.

The ‘smart technology’ of the 21st-century media age had to be subtly incorporated into the home of a man whose business interests include Fox TV in the US, Star TV in Asia, Foxtel in Australia, Sky Italia, the publishing house HarperCollins and 175 newspapers around the world, and who admits that he has belatedly woken up to the potential of the internet. Almost every surface quietly doubles as a technological interface.

In the living room, touch controls operate the plasma television – which can also be used for video conferencing thanks to a camera hidden amid nearby books – as well as music, lighting, security, curtains and a complicated phone system. In the dressing room an entire closet conceals Sky boxes, DVD players and stereos. In a nod to Murdoch’s origins, a lampshade near the flat’s entrance is made from newspaper.

Catering staff have access via a side room to a kitchen with two wooden dining tables seating 14 people each. There is also a staff sitting room and a butler’s pantry off the kitchen. The master suite has been personalised with giant walk-in wardrobes and ‘his’ and ‘hers’ dressing rooms – Murdoch’s includes a study with computers, fax machines, modems and several phone lines plus a fold-away bed. The master bathroom has a wall of sliding mirrors that can be opened on to the bedroom, which looks out on one of the capital’s most beautiful parks.

The magazine article notes: ‘Deng, who favours Chanel suits and flat shoes to any sort of bling, has applied the same rules to her house as to her wardrobe, with the decor five-star luxe in sober colours. The whole place is designed around feng shui principles, which dictated that Trevor hide the bedroom mirrors inside the wardrobes.’

The design was praised by Isabel Allen, editor of the Architects’ Journal. ‘It looks very beautifully and expensively decorated,’ she said. ‘It looks very bachelor pad to me. It’s slightly corporate and gentlemen’s club – it’s got that preponderance of black and heavy timber detailing. Gentlemen’s club is usually claustrophobic, but the white walls overcome that. It’s really clever. One can see that it belongs to Rupert Murdoch. It’s got that Eighties “This is where we do business with our friends” feel to it. If I was going to split hairs, the roof terrace lacks a sense of enclosure. But it looks amazing from a gadgets point of view. It’s bloody well done for what it is.’

Murdoch – who broke New York records by paying £22 million for a penthouse apartment in the city last December – remains an inspiration to his supporters and the ‘Dirty Digger’ to his enemies. The late Dennis Potter, the television playwright, memorably declared in his final interview that he called his cancer Rupert and said: ‘I would shoot the bugger if I could.’ Taking no chances, the glass sliding doors leading to Murdoch’s roof terrace are bulletproof.