When it comes to homes with charm and character, the traditional Maltese home truly has a lot to offer. The three main property types are Houses of Character, Farmhouses and Townhouses.

 

Houses of Character and Farmhouses could even date back as far as 600 years, with the majority being in the 300-400 year bracket. All of these properties are constructed using limestone and use a soil putty mix to keep the masonry together. Walls in these dwellings are typically 1-1.5 meters thick as this provided insulation as well as robust architectural stability. Particularly in the case of Farmhouses, the lower floor would have been dedicated to animals, incorporating feeding basins and stone wall brackets to which animals would have been secured for the night. Animals sleeping indoors would have provided warmth to the upper living and sleeping quarters. These properties would have previously been surrounded by fields, especially in the case of Farmhouses - but as villages developed and expanded, most of the agricultural land gave way to the building of new neighboring homes. 

 

Townhouses, on the other hand, are a more recent type of property, dating back a hundred years or so and are characterised by large wooden doors and slatted windows, as well as open wrought iron and traditional Maltese wooden balconies. One feature that has become very sought-after, are the traditional Maltese patterned tiles. These townhouses would generally have had the living quarters on the ground floor, overlooking a back garden or a courtyard. The stairs leading to the upper floor/s were decorated with intricate wrought iron banisters. The upper floor was reserved as sleeping quarters and in some cases also housed the main living room.

 

Palazzinos and larger Palazzos were the reserve of nobility. These properties have imposing facades, large gardens and a secondary limestone stairwell which was used by the housekeeping staff to move unseen from one floor to another, without disturbing the owners. In general, as expected with any palace, all the rooms were far larger than normal. Ground floor rooms were never intended as the main rooms of the house and the kitchen was almost always smaller than one would expect since it was reserved for kitchen and housekeeping staff only. The main living and sleeping quarters are usually to be found on the upper floors together with the 'Sala Nobile', which was a very grande room used for entertaining guests but also acted as the Palazzo's formal living space. Palazzos would have the formal dining area on either the ground floor or the 1st floor. Underground cellars were used to store goods such as wine and also kept properties dry and cool. Central courtyards would serve as light wells to let sunlight into the surrounding rooms. 

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Take a look at some of the traditional Maltese homes currently available on our books.

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Keep well and stay safe.