150-year-old townhouse in Sliema next for demolition

A nearly 150-year old townhouse in the heart of Sliema is the latest to be targeted for demolition under a new application for a six-storey apartment block.
The house in Cathedral Street, within the Sliema Urban Conservation Area, is part of a well-preserved row of houses commissioned by the Mdina Cathedral between 1870 and 1886 for clergymen coming from renowned families.
Several residents, as well as the Sliema local council, have written in to the Planning Authority in recent weeks objecting to the proposed development, which would completely demolish the house to build a ground floor maisonette, nine apartments and two penthouses.
Objectors have argued that approving the application would irreversibly alter the streetscape and destroy the character of the surrounding townhouses.
The Superintendence for Cultural Heritage has also objected to the development, noting that the house contained various internal architectural elements which demanded preservation.

“This townhouse is of cultural heritage value and deserves to be restored and retained, since it represents an era of architecture which is practically lost in Sliema,” the Superintendence wrote in its comments to the...