Owners seek hotel atop St Julian’s house

An elegant St Julian’s townhouse is being proposed for a five-story hotel by its own owners, the Zammit Tabona family and Sirdar Property Holdings.

Sirdar House is located on the incline behind the City of London bar. The proposed hotel will retain the existing façade, with works to demolish its interior to build a 52-roomed 3-star hotel.

The house’s garden will be uprooted to make way for a restaurant and a pool.

St Julian's Mayor Albert Buttigieg has urged people to object to the development. "Turing our core village into one construction site is not acceptable!"

The property is located within the urban conservation area, just metres away from the scheduled Villa Leoni. A 2020 planning circular requires the assessment of the impact of the proposed development on the nearby scheduled property. But a number of permits issued in the past years have already changed the townscape in this area.

A similar application submitted by applicant Ray Zammit to add four floors on Villa Leoni was turned down by the Planning Authority in 2019. But the decision was revoked following an appeal to the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal which asked the PA to reconsider the case, which is still pending.

In 2014 the PA also approved the demolition of the nearby St George’s Villa, retaining the facade and proposing five new floors to make way for apartments.