New storey proposed on scheduled Mtarfa isolation hospital

An extra storey is being proposed for the scheduled Mtarfa isolation hospital which is being earmarked as an old people’s home. 

The development will also include two storeys below the building and an extension over an area which includes 20 olive trees and some pine trees.

Plans submitted to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority for the 148-bed private old people’s home this week also foresee a new surface car park for 57 cars, instead of the existing cul de sac.

The area earmarked for the car park is presently covered with trees. The 20 olive trees will be replanted in a proposed garden area while the pine trees will be replanted at a lower level.

The rear wing of the hospital, which was set on fire by vandals in the 1990s, is now set for demolition. 

Architect and freeport chairman Robert Sarsero, who also serves as a member of MEPA’s appeals tribunal, has drawn the plans for the project. 

The isolation hospital was one of four historical buildings earmarked for restoration for commercial purposes in an expression of interest issued this year.

Malta Healthcare Caterers, a subsidiary of the Seabank Group, was the recommended bidder for the isolation hospital after an expression of interest. The hospital was built by the British in 1924 and was considerably damaged in the arson. The company plans to restore the structure and convert it into a home for the elderly, specialising in dementia patients.

MEPA scheduled the isolation hospital in Mtarfa as a Grade 2 national monument on July 12, 2008. Normally only internal alterations can be made to grade 2 scheduled buildings.

A neglected architectural gem

The isolation hospital was built as part of the Mtarfa Military Hospital and barracks. 

It is a single floor building having a facade in the classical order with pilasters instead of columns. It has identical front and rear wings with pilastered verandas supporting an arched central bay. 

The veranda is roofed over four supporting pillars at left and right, with the corners formed of a cluster of three pilasters. 

A central wing is connected to the two flanking wings by a closed corridor of matching exterior. The wing consists of the power and boiler rooms. A frieze and a cornice run along the entire roof. 

The arson was concentrated in the rear wing of the hospital and some rooms, but the veranda and the exterior fabric suffered considerable damage. The slabs in some of the smaller rooms collapsed. 

The remainder of the building is still in a good condition although neglected.