Anna Maria Rosso (August 5) wrote about the conservation of Sliema, and her right as an owner of a traditional town house to do with it as she pleases, in light of building precedents already set. While I completely empathise with her situation, I'd like to put forward an alternative viewpoint.
The short-sightedness of the government, Mepa and the Sliema council, not to mention the greed of some residents wanting to make a quick buck, have resulted in the Sliema we know today. A once charming and architecturally striking town has become a non-descript sea of ubiquitous apartment buildings. While we cannot do anything to resurrect what has to date been destroyed, we can certainly do something to preserve what remains.
I am Australian of Maltese origin, and my dream was to own a typical Maltese town house, with a traditional gallerija, patterned tiles and an anti-porta (balcony). I managed to succeed on the first two criteria and who knows, maybe one day I will re-instate an anti-porta, which for some odd reason was removed. It seems that the Maltese national sport is to do away with the old, in lieu of anything new.
Malta, you just don't get it! Your heritage is what differentiates you from the concrete jungles found easily elsewhere. It is one of the reasons people come here. It is meshed with your future and as such this gold mine that you are blindly sitting on is what will reap long-term financial rewards for you and your children.
Yet, you continue to destroy old buildings, or ruin them with inappropriate aluminium doors and windows, all in the name of progress.
To make my point, I'd like to draw on an Australian example. There existed two run-down, salubrious suburbs called Carlton, in Victoria and Paddington, in New South Wales. Forty years ago nobody wanted to live there. As a consequence many of the town houses were destroyed to make way for flats or improperly cared for.
Thirty years later these suburbs have been restored and transformed back to their former glory. For many now, it is no longer possible to buy or even rent a house in one of these suburbs. People learned the value of preservation and restoration.
And, while I only refer to one country, this process is going on all over the world, to the benefit (financial and otherwise) of their owners. Perhaps the news hasn't quite reached here yet!
So as some of you contemplate turning your beautiful old home into yet another block of flats, I am going to hang on to my increasingly rare townhouse, because old, well-preserved houses and suburbs sell at a premium, and as a long term investment, I know what I would prefer to leave for my children.
As a footnote, the other day in Sliema, I pulled out of a dump bin two lovely old double glass panelled doors, the type that would adorn the doorways of old Maltese homes.
In Australia one would pay good money for these doors, in the name of restoration. Oh Malta, when will you learn?