After living in Malta for six months, Patrick van Schaik felt like he had seen all there was to see.

It was then, on his daily commute from his Birkirkara home, that the Dutch national noticed something beautiful: the façade of Mater Dei Hospital.

Van Schaik soon became obsessed with other modernist buildings, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, and one architect elicited an “emotional response” – Richard England.

The 42-year-old architecture enthusiast made it a mission to visit and photograph every building designed by the Maltese architect and other modernists, and set up a dedicated Instagram page called Limestone Jungle.

“Richard England is one of the great architects of the world but people in Malta don’t seem to realise it,” said Van Schaik.

The Qawra parish church, La Vallette resort and Millennium Chapel are among the buildings designed by England.

Many of the photos on the Instagram account were taken between 2015 and 2019 when Van Schaik lived in Malta.

Every weekend, van Schaik and his girlfriend would hop on their bicycle and visit a different England building.

Now back in the Netherlands, van Schaik returns to Malta at least once a year, on the lookout for modernist buildings he has yet to discover.

“Many of my positive experiences in Malta are related to my crazy quest to visit every Richard England building,” he said.

Patrick van Schaik’s Instagram account Limestone Jungle features Malta’s modernist buildings.

On one occasion, he managed to get into the privately owned Castello Tas-Sultan, in Madliena, and the church inside it. Richard England was married there, van Schaik says. 

“The owner was really angry we trespassed on her property but now I am frequently writing to her,” van Schaik says.  “She even helped me find new Richard England houses.”

“When I devised the plan to visit all of England’s buildings, it was a deliberate decision to include all unknown works, office buildings, private homes, apartment blocks,” he said.

He even visited the house of former speaker Louis Galea.

“I ran into his son-in-law and my enthusiasm convinced him to show us the garden.”

I’m worried how Malta will look like in 20 years

One time, Van Schaik got into Ir-Razzett ta’ Sandrina, an England-designed villa turned holiday accommodation in Mġarr, by offering strawberries to guests in exchange for a visit. 

During his quest to visit England’s architectural gems, van Schaik also met the man himself.

“Sadly, he (Richard England) had to learn from me that Ir-Razzett ta’ Sandrina is now on Airbnb and the owner changed the original design. Richard England called it ‘mutilated’,” van Schaik says.

“We talked about the current sad state of buildings in Malta, where it seems to have become a new art form to build four floors each in a different style on top of existing buildings.”

Limestone Jungle also features other works designed by other architects that have “great beauty but are ignored in Malta”. All are in the modernist style.

The pyramid-shaped Fgura parish church and Birkirkara’s St Theresa Sanctuary, which resembles a UFO, are among the 1980s buildings featured on the account.

Among van Schaik’s favourites is Villa Mystique in Madliena.

Van Schaik says he visited the place three times but has recently learned that it was vandalised with spray paint on the walls and litter has been left on the ground.

He is concerned about how few of Malta’s modernist buildings are protected or regarded as significant pieces of cultural heritage.

“I’m worried how Malta will look like in 20 years as more new soulless blocks take over the island,” he said.