The Planning Authority has designated Palazzina Vincenti on the St Julian's seafront as a Grade 2 building, thus saving it from demolition.

The new status was issued after a public outcry in the wake of a planning application for its demolition, led by former St Julian's mayor and now Nationalist MP Albert Buttigieg. 

Developer Carlo Stivala and architect Robert Musumeci had submitted a proposal for three basement levels of parking spaces, a 136-room hotel, restaurants, a spa and fitness studio, indoor and outdoor pools and kiosks at the top 

"The development application will need to be radically modified to ensure that the palazzina is restored to its original glory, which it so well deserves," the authority said.

It recalled that last year it issued an Emergency Conservation Order (ECO)  while a thorough assessment of the building was made to determine its long-term level of protection.

The authority concluded that Palazzina Vincenti has outstanding historical and contextual value and is a pioneering example of modernist architecture that made use of reinforced concrete in a domestic setting in the Maltese Islands.

Built in the post-World War II period, the palazzina was designed by architect Gustavo R. Vincenti as his own personal residence and is one of his masterpieces. It is one of the best modernist examples on the Island, where  Vincenti’s mastery of circular and square geometric shapes was taken to an unprecedented dimension with its protruding forms and sculpted spaces, the PA said. 

Palazzina Vincenti served as Vincenti’s residence until his death in April 1974.

The facades of the two houses abutting the Palazzina, designed in a muted Modernist idiom have also been scheduled as Grade 2 properties, while their interiors will be scheduled as Grade 3.