Developers are poised to drop two 'historic' Msida townhouses despite a recommendation for the 19th-century buildings to be scheduled.

The townhouses, along Tower Street, date back to at least the early 1870s and are believed by residents and architects to be even older.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has recommended that the buildings be protected from development and given a status of grade two scheduling.

The buildings, however, might not be around for much longer, as the Planning Authority has already granted approval for the buildings to be replaced by a block of apartments, complete with maisonettes and overlying penthouses.

The last hope for the buildings was a planning appeals hearing yesterday. However, a final decision on the project was deferred to next month.

During the hearing, architect Carmel Cacopardo argued that, once a recommendation for scheduling had been made, it should be respected.

Every time a Maltese house is bulldozed, so is another part of our heritage and with it part of our very identity. For what?

“What is the point of having a competent entity, which recommends something, for it to then be ignored?” Mr Cacopardo asked.

He later added that, with the high number of empty apartments across the island, the last thing the country needed was another block of apartments.

Residents present at the hearing said the houses were part of “our collective history”.

“The streetscape will be ruined and surely one by one the houses will fall to developers. Every time a Maltese house is bulldozed, so is another part of our heritage and with it part of our very identity. For what?” a resident told the hearing.

The developers argued, meanwhile, that they planned to replicate the facades, but architectural historian Edward Said raised concerns over the practice.

If facades were structurally sound, and worth protecting, then they should not be torn down and replicated, he said.