Palazzina Vincenti | |
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![]() Palazzina Vincenti in 2017 | |
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General information | |
Status | Dilapidated |
Type | Residential |
Architectural style | Modernist |
Location | St Julian's, Malta |
Coordinates | 35°54′58.6″N14°29′36.7″E / 35.916278°N 14.493528°E Coordinates: 35°54′58.6″N14°29′36.7″E / 35.916278°N 14.493528°E |
Completed | 1948 |
Technical details | |
Material | Limestone and concrete |
Design and construction | |
Architect | Gustavo R. Vincenti |
Palazzina Vincenti is a residential building overlooking Balluta Bay in St Julian's, Malta. It was built in 1948 by architect Gustavo R. Vincenti as his own residence, and it is considered to be one of the best examples of Modernist architecture in its country. As of 2021, it is currently proposed that the building be demolished and replaced by a hotel.
Palazzina Vincenti was designed by Gustavo R. Vincenti, a prominent Maltese architect, as his personal residence. [1] It has been described as the epitome of his own architectural development, in which he embraced the Modernist style as opposed to Art Nouveau and Art Deco which had influenced his earlier works. [2] It was constructed in 1948, and Vincenti lived in the building until his death in 1974. [3] The architect's son, Hilaire Vincenti, subsequently lived there until his own death in 2019. [4]
A request to schedule the building was submitted by architect Edward Said to the Planning Authority (PA) in 2019. By 2021 the property was split between several owners including the developer Carlo Stivala, and parts of the building were in a dilapidated state. In November 2021 it was reported that Stivala submitted an application to the PA to demolish the building and replace it with a 14-storey hotel designed by architect Robert Musumeci. [4] Following this proposal, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, [5] the AD+PD political party [6] and other organisations and individuals including the mayor of St Julian's made numerous calls for preserving the building, citing its historical and architectural importance. [5] On 17 December 2021, the PA issued an Emergency Conservation Order which granted it Grade 1 scheduling for a year. [7]
Palazzina Vincenti is one of the best examples of Modernist architecture in Malta, [5] and it is one of the earliest residential buildings of this style in the country. [3]
The building consists of a number of filleted cubic volumes built over a group of garages. [2] The façades are characterised by plain limestone walls with long horizontal windows and cantilevered concrete balconies with austere steel railings. [1] Internally, the residence includes a grand foyer, waffle slab ceilings and a prominent staircase built out of concrete. [3]
The building also contains a tunnel which leads to the foreshore of Balluta Bay. [4]
Saint Julian's is a town in the Central Region of Malta. As at 2020, its registered number of inhabitants were 13,792. It is situated along the coast, north of the country's capital, Valletta. It is known for tourism-oriented businesses, such as hotels, restaurants and nightclubs which are centred mainly in an area known as Paceville.
The year 1974 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
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Isabelle Borg was a British-Maltese artist. Her work has appeared in several exhibitions in Malta and internationally. Borg was born in London in 1959 to a Maltese father and Italian mother. She studied painting at the Camberwell College of Arts, London, graduating BA (Hons) in 1986. She obtained an MA in 1994 and taught art at the University of Malta. She spent periods of her life in Berlin and West Cork, Ireland apart from Malta. Borg set up the Moviment Mara Maltija in the late 1980s and later became its President.
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3, Triq ix-Xatt was a nineteenth-century building in Marsaskala, Malta. Built during the Crown Colony of Malta, it was a vernacular structure which appears in an iconic 1885 photo of the former fishing village - prior development into a residential and holiday location. It was among the few old buildings in the area at one time, which at some point became a residence until it became vacant.
Gustavo Romeo Vincenti was a Maltese architect and developer. Born into a wealthy and business oriented family in Valletta, he was able to purchase land and design and build buildings which he would then sell to clients. He was interested in architecture from a young age, and he graduated as an architect from the University of Malta in 1911, at the age of 23.
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