A powerhouse of controversy at so many stages of the island’s social and political life, Strickland House has attracted as much support as antagonism, not only in Lord Strickland’s time but also in later years, especially in the time of the socialist administration of Dom Mintoff in 1979, when political arsonists razed the building to the ground.

That was the heaviest price it paid for its consistency in opposing beliefs that ran counter to its own and to those of its readers, a heavier price than the two direct hits it received during World War II.

The fire may have ravenously consumed all that made up the press, but it did not destroy Strickland House’s spirit of endurance and resistance that it so gallantly displayed throughout the war.

It was certainly no mean feat for all who worked at Strickland House during the war to produce a daily newspaper, standing as it did at the very edge of Grand Harbour, one of the fiercest theatres of war in the Mediterranean. Its newspapers never stopped rolling off the presses, keeping the people’s morale high, soldiers at their gun posts and airmen at the aerodromes and all informed of the latest events, though some would not hold back from calling such news as the newspaper was able to give in the circumstances sheer British propaganda.

Strickland House’s charisma and ethos, maligned so much in the years Lord Strickland so valiantly opposed the Nationalists in and out of government until his death in 1940, emanated principally from the personalities and work of Strickland, his wife, Margaret, and his daughter, Mabel. Most of the key people they employed at Strickland House over the years, generally Anglophiles, kept the Strickland traditions alive.

Lord Strickland (partially hidden) about to enter Progress Press after stepping out of his Rolls Royce parked in front of the Westminster Hotel, the building in Valletta’s Strada Reale (Republic Street) that housed his first printing press.

Strickland’s first printing workshop was in Strada Reale (originally Strada San Giorgio, then Kingsway and, since 1974, when Malta became a republic, Republic Street) in a building that formed part of a block situated between St Barbara church and the property of Baron Azzopardi Zammit.

It comprised a tobacconist shop (No. 9), Progress Printing Press (No. 10A), the Westminster Hotel (No. 11), which he owned, and a jeweller’s shop (No. 13).

According to a notarial description of the building, the press consisted of a large entrance with a door opening onto Strada Reale, an office room, three rooms where the printing machines were installed, a printers’ office, a storeroom and other rooms.

It was certainly no mean feat for all who worked at Strickland House during the war to produce a daily paper

A staircase led to the upper floors annexed to the Westminster Hotel.

The whole block was valued on July 29, 1929, at £11,000.

The press was valued at £3,340, the Westminster Hotel at £6,360, the tobacconist shop £600 and the jeweller’s shop £700.

The value estimate was signed by Gius. Borg Olivier and Notary S. Borg Olivier. Progress Press had an editorial office in Britannia Street, adjoining the Constitutional Party club; the ground-floor was used for the collection of subscriptions.

According to the police permit, Strickland could not run his printing machinery between 10pm and 7am, a condition most certainly made to avoid disturbing the people living nearby.

Workers build a shelter wall in front of the main door of Strickland House in St Paul Street, Valletta, in July 1940.

By February 1931, Progress Press had already moved to Strada San Paolo, taking over a building that had been built in 1910 and used as a cigarette-making factory by Constantine Colombos, who started the business in 1868.

The firm, established in Cairo, had agencies in countries around the world and at its peak employed 250 workers at its factory in Strada San Paolo.

Constantine Colombos, as the firm was known, made some 50,000,000 cigarettes a year. Its leading brands were Premier, Aristocratic, Pera, Elite and Sultan, but it made some 100 brands in all.

The only souvenir that has remained of the cigarette factory is the brass keyhole ring carrying the inscription ‘C. Colombos’.

A building that stood on the same site in the time of the knights was known as the House (or Palace) of the Fountains – maybe because of the number of underground wells it had. Except for the wells, no trace is left of the original building.

Strickland House in St Paul Street – 341, 342 and 343 – was bought on March 13, 1930, on Mabel’s behalf from a loan of £5,564 18s. 6d provided by Lady Strickland.

In the early 1930s, the Constitutional Party had its headquarters at 345, St Paul Street. The top floor was occupied by Mamo Brothers, but the executive committee used to meet either at the home of Andrea Vassallo in St Lucia Street or at Lord Strickland’s home, Villa Bologna.

By 1948, the value of the whole building in St Paul Street was estimated by E. England Sant Fournier at £22,000.

Strickland House has a nuance in the island’s political history that is lost on today’s generation, but whatever its future, the building will long remain associated with the politics of the Stricklands and with the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times of Malta.

This report is mainly extracts from Strickland House, The standard-bearers and launching of the Times of Malta, Book One: 1921-1935.

Victor Aquilina is a former editor of the Times of Malta.

Mabel Strickland (centre) with the staff of the three newspapers on the roof of Strickland House in St Paul Street, Valletta, in 1949. The photograph is autographed by Ms Strickland. On her right is John Scerri, the newspapers’ first press photographer.

The new complex in Mrieħel. Photo: Jonathan Borg