Maltese Architecture Part 1: Houses

Maltese homes come with a vast and confusingly diverse array of names, so here is what we hope is a useful guide for navigating the houses of character, villas, palazzos, maisonettes and more that you can find on these beautiful islands. This Part 1 covers just some types of houses. Part 2 will finish with houses, and Part 3 will look into the various types of apartments. Part 4 will take a dive into the uniquely Maltese architectural features, such as xorok and kileb.

Throughout all the different types of houses in Malta, they share one characteristic: they each have their own private front door. Otherwise, they can be terraced, detached, semi-detached, one storey, four storeys, with gardens, without any outside space, etc.

Several of these terms are used differently in Malta than in other parts of the world. If you come from the UK and you know what a bungalow is, you might be surprised to find that what the Maltese describe as a bungalow, you might think of as a terraced house. Read on for the cobwebs to be wiped away!

(Note this article was written with a lot of input from the Curbsy General Manager, Giovanni Camilleri, a man who definitely knows his kileb from his xorok.)

Because the differences are often subtle, sometimes subjective and at times confusing, on the Curbsy website’s Buy page, we have searches for just Houses and Apartments. This way, you can see all the townhouses, terraced houses, villas, etc in one grouping. We’re constantly reviewing how people search and what they really care about when house hunting, so do drop us a comment if you have any suggestions.

1. House of Character

To foreigners, this is often the most confusing type of house. A house of character is an old property, usually over 100 years old, which must have some distinctively Maltese architectural features intact. (Part 4 of this series will be about all the different features that can be uniquely found in Maltese architecture.)

With high ceilings, tall arches and thick limestone walls, these are sturdy properties that can stand for lifetimes with some upkeep. Unless specifically stated otherwise, these are usually terraced properties, with the exterior walls shared with neighbours on both sides.

This unconverted house of character in Xaghra, Gozo (available for €580,000) has a history of making wine, with the old wine barrels still intact in the cellar.

Houses of character often have a central courtyard with all the rooms looking into or over it. The best bargains in Maltese real estate are unconverted houses of character, but be prepared to hire an architect and contractor for the conversion.

One popular method of conversion is to keep as much as possible of the historic features, but go super-modern with additional floors, glass mezzanines and more. These properties are stunning when done well.

Check out the think stone wall of the arch and the wooden beams in the ceiling. In this house of character’s conversion, the owners kept many traditional features but added a pool, modern fittings and doors and splashes of colour throughout. See lots more photos and a video of this converted house of character in Zejtun, Malta.

One thing houses of character must share is a sense of walking back into Malta’s past. They range considerably in size, from the smallest of places (our tiniest was a house of character that was just two rooms stacked atop each other, with an eensy cellar below) to four-storey, multi-bedroom properties wrapped around a large central courtyard. Our lowest-priced house of character right now is a two-bedroom in Ghaxaq for just €214,000.

2. Townhouse

A townhouse is similar in structure to a terraced house, but these were typically built in the early 20th century, making them generally a bit older than terraced houses. They are built over two or more storeys, and the downstairs entrance often opens into a wide hallway with rooms on either side. The exterior walls are shared on both sides unless clearly otherwise stated.

The first storeys and above will have balconies or the traditional Maltese wooden, enclosed balcony. Townhouses are common in the centres of older, more established towns and villages.

As they are older than terraced houses, they more often have traditional architectural features, such as mouldings, cornices and stone slab ceilings (called xorok).

This image is of a townhouse in Xewkija, Gozo. It has some amazing tilework in addition to this fabulous stone arch and a large garden. See more photos of this beautiful, traditional townhouse.

Townhouses and houses of character are the most commonly found house types in Malta, although generally the tiles are a tad more sedate than in our example above.

3. Terraced House

A terraced house in Malta is similar in layout to a townhouse, with its external walls shared on both sides. In most cases, a terraced house is two or three storeys tall, but you can find examples of four-storey terraced houses. Sometimes these sit atop their own basement or garage, and often there is a small garden in the front.

This image is of a terraced house in Luqa. We particularly like the little viewing windows in this lovely old wooden door. Check out more photos of this three-bedroom terraced house in Luqa, available for sale fully furnished and with an eight-car garage underneath.

The difference between a terraced house and a townhouse? Generally, townhouses are older properties with some traditional Maltese features, although in reality you will find the distinction a bit more subjective.

4. Bungalow

In the UK, a bungalow is a single-storey or one-and-a-half-storey detached house with a small, surrounding garden. This is sometimes the case in Malta as well, although you might find the term used more broadly to mean any single-storey residential property.

These are often more up-market homes than townhouses or similar, sharing more characteristics with villas than townhouses. In fact, you might consider bungalows in Malta to be single-storey villas.

Bungalows additionally break away from the standard rectangular shape found with most Maltese properties.

This image is of a bungalow in St Julian’s, one of the most popular residential and business areas of Malta. It is semi-detached, so shares one wall with a neighbour, and has a garden, a terrace and an underlying garage big enough for a small private plane. See more photos of this rare beast, a bungalow in St Julian’s.

This type of property is increasingly hard to find in many parts of Malta, where there is no more space to grow out, only up.

Coming soon…

Villas, palazzos, palazzinos, farmhouses and boathouses. What’s the difference between these? It may not be what you think.

The Future of Houses in Malta

With the rapid population growth seen in Malta in recent years, many houses are at risk of development into apartment blocks (although the urban conservation area designation does protect some older areas). Whilst providing the benefit of lower-cost housing for more people, there is also some tragedy in seeing history come tumbling down to make way for progress. We love traditional Maltese houses, with all their various quirks, and we hope that we can continue putting them into the hands of people who love them for years to come.