One World - Protecting the most significant buildings, monuments and features of Valletta (70)
The Camarata
The original design of the Camarata was meant to be a nine-storey edifice with 23 apartments on each storey, housing 828 individuals. In 1862 only five of the nine storeys containing apartments were constructed.
The importance of this building arises from the considerations for highly improved sanitary and social conditions incorporated in its design as one of the earliest housing projects.
It is planned around a large central courtyard with a staircase located on one side of this courtyard. Damp is reduced through the use of Coralline limestone for the lower courses, a ventilated basement and double leaf external walls with an intermediate air cavity. Above the first four Coralline limestone courses, the building is constructed using Globigerina limestone blocks cut in an experimental smaller size than that normally used in Malta for easier and safer handling by workmen.
Aesthetically, the building is quite bare with large plain rectangular windows on the upper floors, and semi-circular arched windows at ground floor level.
A heavy cornice crowns the edifice above which is a plain roof parapet wall.
On the site of the Camarata there was originally a building which served as a retreat house for the Knights set up by the Jesuit Giovanni Battista Carminata in 1593. The Jesuits built a house for private spiritual retreats for the knights near the hospital at the end of Valletta.
Mepa scheduled the Camarata as a Grade 2 building as per Government Notice number 276/08 in the Government Gazette dated March 28.
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Joe Xuereb
Jan 31st 2009, 23:23
@ Jesmond Micallef. Doric is (Ancient) Greek not Roman. And seeing you know it all, can you please leave a comment and let me know where exactly I can see this Camerata. From this article it could as well be on Mars.
Jesmond Micallef
Jan 10th 2009, 18:52
Very interesting article, indeed.
I am particularly interested in the building of the Law Courts of Malta. If I am not mistaken, it is a post WW2 reconstruction and it replaces an Auberge ?? I have allways wondered why such Doric (Roman) architecture was used in a city which is mainly Barrock. Could someone please shed some light here ??
Otherwise Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and rightly so it should protected and appreciated, both by visitors but more importantly by it's residents.
Vincent Zammit
Jan 10th 2009, 17:30
The piece of information about the Camarata starts with "The original design of the Camarata was meant..." But this does not even try to explain why the name Camerata. For those who are interested and would like to know more about the origin of this name, the first buildings and the history of the same site, you can refer to the following link:
http://www.geocities.com/melitahistorica/index1.html
Aldo Gatt
Jan 10th 2009, 16:33
Would it not be great if the Camarata's simplicity was restored, its facades rid of the accumulated hooks for village feast decorations and its windows replaced for uniformity? I have never ventured inside and I dread to think what the common areas look like. I suppose one of the main challenges with a housing project such as this one is how to instill a sense of pride in its inhabitants.
Evarist Saliba
Jan 10th 2009, 16:10
Very interesting information, but one has to admit that "aestethically, the builing is (not only) quite bare" but definitely an eyesore, which is not enhanced when tenants have to hang out their clothes to dry from their tiny windows. Apart from being one of "the most significant buildings of Valletta that has to be protected", the Camarata is also the residence of many families whose protection should override other considerations.
Is the place "an enhancement to Valletta" and fit for human habitation in the XXI century?
I have never been inside and therefore I do not know, however I have seen it quite often from the outside and, in spiteof the features mentioned in the article, I would not be sorry if it were to disappear to be replaced by something better. After all, the Camarata replaced an older builing which could not have had worse aesthetic features.
Please choose the reason of your report below: