It was announced this week that Palazzina Vincenti in St Julian’s will not be demolished after the Planning Authority (PA) declared the property as a Grade 2 building.
The Authority concluded that Palazzina Vincenti “has outstanding historical and contextual value and is a pioneering example of modernist architecture that made use of reinforced concrete in a domestic setting in the Maltese Islands. Built in the post- World War II period, the Palazzina was designed and constructed by Perit Gustavo R. Vincenti as his own personal residence and is one of his masterpieces. It is one of the best modernist examples on the Island, whereby Vincenti’s mastery in playing with circular and square geometric shapes is taken to an unprecedented dimension with its protruding forms and sculpted spaces.”
There is a pending planning application on the site to demolish it, however, the PA said, with this protection the development application will need to be radically modified “to ensure that the palazzina is restored back to its original glory, which it so well deserves.”
It is always good news when a unique piece of architecture, or something historic, is saved from demolition. One will now need to await the new plans to see just exactly how this building will be treated. One hopes that the developer will not come up with some form of application that would effectively ruin the building regardless of its protection.
In an interview with this newsroom in February, Professor Alex Torpiano had said: “The Planning Authority looks at heritage buildings more or less in the same way that the general public looks at them. If you have a church, a monument, a piece of Renaissance or Baroque architecture... more or less everybody would agree that these are things we have to protect. If we then move to 19th century buildings, people start raising doubts. Perhaps, one could say that the appreciation of Art Nouveau and Liberty is still growing and there are some examples which are preserved. But if we are talking about early 20th century industrial heritage, I think there are few people who would appreciate the historical relevance of such heritage." When it comes to the Modernist period, 1960s to1980s, he said "we struggle to get people, and by extension the Planning Authority, to understand how important these examples are to our architectural heritage”.
Thus this decision by the PA came as a bit of a surprise, but a welcome one at that.
When it comes to the preservation of heritage in Malta, it has become all the more important over recent years. We keep seeing buildings going higher and higher, but as a result Malta is losing its charm. Thus ensuring the protection of buildings which have unique architecture is all the more important.