One World - Protecting the most significant buildings, monuments and features of the Maltese islands (25)

The Phoenicia Hotel was built in 1947 by Mabel Strickland as the first luxury hotel in Malta, and remains one of the best luxury hotels to date. Lady Strickland named the hotel after the Phoenicians, whom she claimed to be the original ancestors of both the Maltese and the British. Her obsession with this conjecture was deeply rooted in the politics of the time, and the Pheonicia Hotel is, therefore, rare tangible evidence related to Malta's history and politics of the past.

The hotel is located at King Edward VII Road in Floriana and has a trapezoidal plan, with the two main wings along the slanting sides. The central space was originally an open courtyard but was roofed over in the 1960s as a lounge area.

The architectural treatment of the façade is eclectic, reminiscent of Egyptianising motifs applied to classical architectural elements. The most striking feature of the façade is the portico. It consists of three arches at the front and one on each side, supported on pilasters. On the frieze below the cornice is the hotel's name in large bronze letters, below which are a number of roundels. So much attention was paid to detail that all balconies have elaborately designed cast iron railings, and all water drain pipes are also in cast iron, most of which are ornamented. An additional floor was built in the 1990s in complete out of sync with the original architecture. The hotel is complimented with extensive gardens and pool area that stretch down to Marsamxetto Harbour and which are actually located within the ditch and glacis of the Valletta landfront fortifications.

Mepa scheduled the Phoenicia Hotel in Floriana as a Grade 2 national monument as per Government Notice No. 628/08 in the Government Gazette dated July 12, 2008.