The Tarxien home of late prime minister Dom Mintoff has been safeguarded from further encroachment after a developer’s years-long appeal against its protection status was finally rejected. 

The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, which handles appeals, heard arguments in favour and against downgrading the special heritage protection granted to the imposing villa, as a developer sought to build more floors on an apartment block constructed on an adjacent site.  

On June 28, the tribunal voted to retain the protective status of the building.

The villa, known as The Olives, was granted Grade 1 scheduling in 2018, the highest possible level of protection and one usually reserved for national monuments. This was for its architectural value as well as “its historical, political and social significance”.

This level of scheduling was also meant to cover the building’s setting on Triq ix-Xintill, protecting against development in the immediate vicinity.

North Delux Developments had earlier been granted permission to demolish an adjacent terraced house and build a four-storey block of apartments and maisonettes. The block now has three floors but construction will have to stop there following the tribunal’s decision.

'Significant victory'

Yana Mintoff, the late prime minister’s daughter who today calls the villa her home, says the four-year battle to protect her family home has finally come to an end.

“The tribunal decision to uphold the protection status of this important 20th-century monument is a significant victory for all those who cherish Malta’s historic environment,” she told Times of Malta.

“We thank all the organisations and brave people who supported us in this long march toward sustainable, sensible planning for the benefit of all Maltese residents.”

The tribunal decision to uphold the protection status of this important 20th-century monument is a significant victory for all those who cherish Malta’s historic environment- Yana Mintoff

The building, which had been host to world leaders during Mintoff’s premiership, will now enjoy the full protection it deserves, she said. 

Grade 1 scheduling is the sort of protection normally afforded to churches, cathedrals and fortifications. 

There are some 700 buildings with this level of protection, including the Auberge de Castille in Valletta, the Archbishop’s Palace, in Floriana and the President’s San Anton Palace, in

Attard. Had the property been granted Grade 2 scheduling, which is normally granted to modernist architecture such as the Mintoff family home, it may not have stopped the planned adjacent development.  

Schedule 2 buildings are those that enhance the architectural fabric of a village core. The Rialto Cinema, in Cospicua, PBS’s Television house, in Pietà, and the Farsons Brewery, in Birkirkara all have Schedule 2 protection.

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