Suspicious fire rips through multimillion-dollar mansion on St Georges Rd in Toorak

The building industry veteran who owns a $20m mansion gutted by fire on Melbourne’s most expensive street says he believes his dream retirement home was deliberately torched.

The owner of a $20m Toorak mansion being built in the most expensive street in Melbourne says he believes a fire which gutted it was deliberately lit.

Building industry veteran Gerry Hoggard said he had been carrying out a three-year renovation of the St Georges Rd property to build his dream retirement home before it went up in flames on Friday morning.

“It’s devastating — we’ve been building it for three years,” Mr Hoggard told the Herald Sun on Friday.

“It looked deliberately lit to me.

“Police are treating it as suspicious. If it had been an electrical fire it would not have spread through the house like that.

“It was almost like there was a firebomb at the front.”

The fire broke out about 12:20am Friday. Picture: Fire Rescue Victoria

The St Georges Rd mansion was completely engulfed in flames. Picture: Fire Rescue Victoria

It took more than an hour to get the blaze under control. Picture: ABC

Mr Hoggard founded building groups Extension Factory and Sperway Homes, the latter which operates in both Melbourne and Sydney.

He has worked in the building industry for more than 40 years and said he had no idea why someone would want to burn his property, located at the corner of St Georges Rd and Ultimo Court, down.

“I’ve been racking my brains and I just can’t believe that something like that can happen,” he said.

“This day and age there are some really twisted people out there, let’s hope that somebody says something.”

Mr Hoggard bought the property for about $7.1m in 2021 and was coming to the end of a “highly detailed” renovation to build a replica French provincial mansion.

He lives a short distance away in another Toorak property.

“I’ve been in the building industry for over 40 years and I’d never built a house for myself and this was going to be my retirement home,” he said.

“It was highly detailed, I wanted to make it my last build and leave a bit of legacy.”

Mr Hoggard believes the fire was deliberately lit. Picture: Supplied

The burnt out building on Friday. Picture: Nadir Kinani

The property would have been worth about $20 million when finished. Picture: Nadir Kinani

It was nearing the end of a three-year renovation. Picture: Nadir Kinani

RT Edgar agent Sarah Case sold the property in 2021 at a “hotly contested” auction.

Ms Case said the rebuilt mansion, which took in city views from the second storey, would have been worth upwards of $20m when finished.

The agent suspected Mr Hoggard had splashed between $8m and $10m on the new build, on top of the $7.1m they paid for the home.

“Just from looking at it, it would have had to have been a minimum of 800sq m internally,” Ms Casey said.

“St Georges Rd is an iconic street address. International buyers know St Georges Rd for its big boulevard, its wide tree line street and huge homes.

“There’s been some record prices there because of the large land holdings.”

The property when it was sold in 2021 before it was renovated. Picture: Supplied

Firefighters were called to the two-storey property about 12.20am.

Police said there was no one inside the house at the time of the blaze.

“Investigations are ongoing into the exact cause of the fire, which is believed to be suspicious at this stage,” police said in a statement on Friday.

“An arson chemist will attend the scene this morning.”

Neighbours expressed shock at the blaze in the luxury street.

“It’s devastating, obviously it’s not something that normally happens in the neighbourhood,” Kate Dalton said.

“It’s pretty shocking news in a quiet suburb.”

It took firefighters more than an hour to get the inferno under control.

Fire Rescue Victoria said the property, at the corner of St Georges Rd and Ultimo Court, suffered “significant structural collapse due to the intensity of the fire”.

Anyone who witnessed the incident, has CCTV/dashcam footage or with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.

Originally published as Suspicious fire rips through multimillion-dollar mansion on St Georges Rd in Toorak