Art Nouveau townhouse to be demolished for 10-storey Gżira hotel

An Art Nouveau townhouse in Gżira will be turned into a 10-storey hotel after the Planning Board approved an application to demolish its interior and three neighbouring apartment blocks.

The development of the large site, located on Triq Testaferrata and Triq l-Imsida, opposite the old stadium – a former red-light district – was given the green light on Tuesday.

While the flats have been described as dilapidated and of no cultural heritage value, Villino Micallef, overlooking Triq l-Imsida, represented a “fine example” of an early- to mid-20th-century Art Nouveau townhouse.

It lies between Plymouth Apartments, Marylin Apartments and Twins Apartments, which will now give way to a three-star hotel.

The whole site will be excavated by developer Michael Bugeja before the construction of two levels of underground parking spaces, a restaurant and retail outlets at ground floor, and a hotel up to the eighth floor, with a pool at roof level.

The approved permit application, PA/02882/25, sought to retain the façade of the residence on Triq L-Imsida and “reinstate its features following demolition”.

But the National Trust of Malta, Din l-Art Ħelwa, was having none of that, and had objected to retaining only the façade of the Art Nouveau building to accommodate a 10-storey mixed-use development.

It had maintained that the proposal exceeded the height limitations established by the North Harbour Local Plan, beyond the stipulated four-storey development.

This would result in excessive blank party walls that would affect both short- and long-distance views, failing to adequately respond to the surrounding streetscape context, it had said.

The heritage NGO felt the context did not justify the total demolition of Villino Micallef, and neither did the retention of the façade and dwarfing of its architectural features with an overlying eight storeys.

Din l-Art Ħelwa also said it was in breach of the Height Limitation Adjustment Policy for Hotels as it did “not respond positively to the context especially in terms of scale, height and streetscape”.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, however, had not objected to the proposed works, subject to restoration conditions, including preferred methods of cleaning the façade, stone replacement and trial patches to its satisfaction.

The site has a long history of proposed development, dating back to 2007, going from offices and overlying residences to a showroom, the sanctioning of alterations to apartments, while rising from an original six to 10 floors.

The landscape of Gżira streets has since undergone significant transformation, with the construction of offices, residential blocks and high-rise developments, while visible street-level sex work has largely disappeared from the area, although the reputation remains.