Sliema's Baroque house

Sliema residents are used to coming under attack from every side, but even they are expressing disbelief that a house within the urban conservation area, which is obviously very old, has been granted an outline demolition permit by Mepa. So what's all the fuss about this unassuming little house? Well, although Sliema is not a place that would automatically come to mind when one thinks of Baroque architecture, this is in fact an example of vernacular Baroque, or the way ordinary people adapted Baroque to their simpler houses.

Although the house to be demolished is not large, it forms part of what was originally a cluster of houses built, no doubt, by a person of substance, as the upper house, opposite the Hole in the Wall pub in High Street, displays a discreet Baroque grandeur on the inside. Its standing is also borne out by the fact that it is flanked by a little house for servants, stables now converted to a shop, and the lower, smaller house or annexe.

Situated on the corner of High Street with Ghar il-Lembi Street, the lower house which is to be demolished is not as grand as the upper one. However, all its building techniques point to it having been constructed during the Baroque period. Its doorway is partly hidden by the columns which were added later, but peep behind them and you will see the typical Baroque door-surround, complete with its sculpted guttae or drop-motif, on either side.

Even more interesting is the side balcony over the narrow part of the lane. This is built in a very rare form - supported on a single, continuous corbel. Where most balconies are supported by two or more individual corbels (saljaturi), this little balcony is carried on a sort of narrow shelf which runs the length of the balcony, instead of being split up into individual corbels. Such balconies are usually set above doors, like the one further up the pavement, but as a balcony on its own, it is much rarer, and can only be seen in some of the oldest and more untouched streets in Valletta, as well as in old villages like Lija and Balzan, or even Victoria - certainly nowhere else in Sliema.

Although the developers' consulting architect maintained that the house dates between 1880 and 1920 (basing himself on the premise that Sliema only started to be built up after 1850) our research revealed several maps clearly showing houses in this part of High Street, which was the first street in Sliema to be built up between 1728 and 1815, proving conclusively that houses did exist in Sliema before 1850.

As such the demolition of this, apparently the oldest house still standing in Sliema, and with such a unique balcony, would be a scandal for Sliema. The house fulfils the architectural, historical and urban landscape criteria that fit Mepa's regulations for preservation within an urban conservation area. For such buildings Mepa only allows "sensitive alterations to the interior". Why then, this scandalous granting of a demolition permit when even houses built in the 1920s are having their façades preserved, as is the case with a much humbler house just up the road in High Street? Such a move will open the way for many similar permits to allow more speculators to profit from the destruction of our architectural heritage. Almost every day politicians regale us with fine words about preserving our heritage; is this what it boils down to?

This neighbourhood is so quaint and attractive that it was chosen by the Ministry of Tourism a few years ago for an embellishment programme for Sliema's most characteristic lanes. Many tourists stop to photograph this lane leading up to the corner-niche of St Paul. To have the pretty house and arched doors in the narrow part of the lane destroyed and replaced by yet another faceless block of apartments would not only create a dark canyon in such a narrow street, but it would totally destroy the atmosphere in one of Sliema's prettiest corners and rob us and our children of yet another part of our heritage.