Yes Minister, tear it down!

In 1842, William Scamp, then a relatively unknown architect in the employment of the British Admiralty was commissioned to take over the building of St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral in Valletta, a project which was then mired in dire controversy. That Scamp steered the project to a successful completion is well known to all – the iconic bell-tower and spire of the Anglican Cathedral is a highlight of Valletta’s skyline.

However, two critical facts are not as well known. The first delicate task was that of demolishing various parts of the structure that were deemed insecure, a direct consequence of the incompetence of his unfortunate predecessor Richard Lankesheer. Scamp had no qualms about this. The second was that Scamp in designing the church drew several drawings, one of which is a hauntingly beautiful watercolour drawing of Valletta’s skyline drawn from Tigné Point, Sliema with his new Anglican church inserted amid the mid-19th century skyline of our beloved capital city.

His bell-tower effused poise and elegance as it rose above the huddled cubic masses of the Order’s city. Scamp even made it a point to label the various vertical landmarks on his drawing – the Palace, the library, St John’s Co-Cathedral, St John’s Cavalier and Ponsonby’s monument. He must have drawn this watercolour to reassure himself that this new addition to Valletta’s landscape would add value and enhance the skyline of the city.

Fast forward 150 years, and may I ask how have we treated the skyline of our beloved city? Not very well I would argue. There are some obvious and glaring cases. One of the main culprits was the incongruous dome of the nearby Carmelite church rebuilt in the 1950s. It conjures a disturbing similarity with Albert Speer’s unrealised design of a monumental dome for Volkshalle (“People’s Hall”), intended for Berlin, capital of an ill-fated Germany. This was all about an imposing presence and pursuing the illusionary moral-justification of upstaging and diminishing Scamp’s bell-tower, perceived as an embodiment of British Protestantism in Catholic Malta. More recent intrusions in the form of additional floors, penthouses, washrooms, etc have over time gradually eroded the gravitas of our capital’s skyline. The most recent offence is the construction of the new drugs court building envisaged as an eight-storey block that would soar above all and sundry.

Now there has been a widespread chorus of disapproval from all quarters – various NGOs, the Chamber of Architects, local citizens and all lovers of Valletta. The condemnation has been unequivocal. This project is a slap in the face of our dear city. If retained in this form it will remain as an abominable carbuncle foisted on the city moulded by Laparelli, Cassar, Carapecchia and others. Valletta is too precious to suffer this fate.

The printed media has reported that high-level meetings were recently held to try to resolve the issue by identifying mitigating measures such as the imposition of setbacks and progressively receding the floors and other alterations. I fear that this is all cosmetic and superfluous. It will have little or no impact on the end product.

Yes Minister, there is only one real solution and that is to tear down the offensive structure and revert it to its original height. Yes Minister, take a leaf from Scamp’s real life experience – he feared not going in reverse when the circumstances so dictated and re-embarked on the quest of building in a harmonious sonnet with the city.

No amount of “mitigating measures” and spurious rhetoric will remedy the situation. There is certainly no shame in reversing some past planning commission’s major error of judgement and rectifying the situation. That is the only honourable way to go and one would definitely be on the right side of history.

To err is human but for one to persist in error would be diabolical. Yes Minister you owe it to all of us and future generations.