Valletta risks being completely stripped of the distinctive, painted old shop signs that lend the city its quaint but charming character as a number of signs that grace old vacant properties are slowly disappearing.
The latest vintage shop sign to disappear last week was an old shop sign that marked what used to be a tobacconist shop in East Street and bore the lettering: ‘G. Borg, Tobacco Merchant, Established 1868’.
Ruben Overend, marketing manager of iValletta.com, explained that this was not the first sign to “disappear” overnight.
Earlier this year, a ‘Sponges’ shop sign in East Street was removed while the wooden shutters of a vacant property in Santa Lucia Street that bore the sign ‘Private Room’ were removed and the entrance walled up with incongruous stone slabs.
“To our knowledge, these signs are not stolen but are either thrown away by property owners who do not realise their heritage value or simply removed to make way for what is called ‘development’ of the area – more like ‘regression’, from our point of view.”
The ‘Sponges’ property, Mr Overend explained, had been vacant for many years following a family dispute on inheritance. When the dispute was resolved, the owner proceeded with emptying it out and removing the sign.
Thankfully, he added, it was not binned but taken into storage.
These shopfronts and signs should be scheduled because they are our common heritage
Correspondence between iValletta.com and a Mepa official revealed that the site was not scheduled due to its dilapidated state.
Scheduling is a complicated process that requires solid grounds on which a site may be scheduled. When a site is in an advanced ruinous state, the grounds on what to schedule it on decrease significantly.
“These shopfronts and signs should be scheduled because they are our common heritage and part of Valletta’s landscape,” Mr Overend said.
“We used to have a lot of these signs, especially in Republic Street, but now we have very few left.
“I understand that new owners would want to put up a new shop sign with the name of their establishment but I think these old signs should not be removed but, instead, integrated into the architecture of the building.”
In 2009, the Victory Kitchen sign rediscovered during works on the façade of a Valletta building in Melita Street was restored to its original colour scheme. In 2011, the planning authority scheduled 62 wooden shopfronts, kiosks and painted signs, bringing the total under protection to 112.
The wooden shopfronts, most of which can trace their roots to the first part of the 20th century, were accorded Grade 2 protection status, which is given to buildings of architectural or historical interest or which contribute to the visual image of an urban conservation area.
Wooden shopfronts were a prominent feature in the late 19th century, used to advertise the business through the display of wares and signage.
Up to the first half of the 20th century, painted signs and advertisements were an important part of Malta’s commercial culture as they served to promote a particular business or establishment.
Sadly, many have been lost through redevelopment or destroyed during World War II.