NGO Friends of Villa Frere has warned that plans for a guesthouse in Pietà will "mutilate" a protected building and destroy the context of two others. 

The plans, which are currently awaiting Planning Authority approval, would transform a dilapidated townhouse on the Pietà seafront into a guesthouse with various garden terraces. 

The applicants are Pieta’ Estates Limited and Alan Galea is the architect.

But those plans have drawn criticism from an NGO which was established to safeguard a historic building that neighbours the townhouse - Villa Frere. The historic villa, which has an extensive landscaped garden, was given the highest level of planning protection, Schedule 1, last year. 

In a letter to the director of planning at the PA dated 10 March, NGO Friends of Villa Frere said that the development is "completely disproportionate and incongruous with its highly sensitive surroundings."

Planned guesthouse which is directly on Villa Frere Photo: Facebook

The NGO warned that the proposal would destroy the context of two Grade 1 properties which it neighbours - Villa Frere and Giardino Zamittello - and also "severely mutilate"  a Grade 2 listed property (Nos.117 and 119), the fine High-Baroque villa designed by the capomaestro Antonio Cachia.

The letter included pictures featuring renders of the proposed development to illustrate how close the guesthouse will be to Villa Frere. 

The NGO argued that the PA should ensure that any development of the dilapidated townhouse remains within the property's existing envelope, "with at most a receded second floor which would not complete with Villa Frere or compromise the holistic composition of both No. 117 with No.119.

"Its small back-garden, originally part of the larger Cachia property, should also be preserved," the NGO added. 

The letter was shared on a Facebook group 'Friends of Villa Frere'.