In the end, the outcry over the demolition of an iconic and beautiful 1930s building in the centre of Nicosia last weekend wasn’t just a social-media outcry.

The Cyprus Architects’ Association, the Greens, and head of the Ecological Movement Efi Xanthou all condemned the destruction of the building – a former family home in a prime location – while the Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (Etek) submitted a list of 80 architecturally notable buildings which they say should be protected from bulldozing.

There was also the spectacle of public officials passing the buck, with the interior ministry declaring that the building in question was never officially submitted to them for consideration as a listed building.

The outcry is a good sign. The fact remains, however, that city centres – certainly in Limassol, and increasingly in Nicosia too – are being torn down, mostly to make way for tall buildings, and no-one seems especially bothered by it.

At the top of the food chain, the president’s recent speech setting out his vision for 2025 promised lots of glitzy new projects, but made no mention of preserving the past.

At the bottom, everyone agrees on protecting ancient monuments and archaeological sites, but few extend that privilege to old urban architecture.

Partly, of course, it’s a matter of greed: old buildings stand in the way of lucrative new ones. Partly it’s a genuine belief that things change, and it’s sentimental to cling to the past.

It may also be because our city centres – unlike in London or Paris – haven’t been established for centuries. They’re more like Dubai, which was just a poor fishing village before its big boom. There’s an older generation in Cyprus who may unconsciously associate old buildings with the relative poverty of their youth, and are glad to see them flattened in the name of ‘progress’.

As things stand, a building can only become listed upon application by the owner, or following a proposal to the interior minister by the town planning department, usually at the behest of the local authority.

The problem – especially in the case of old family homes – is the possibility of many different owners who can’t agree on what to do with the property. The one-off subsidy offered by the law doesn’t provide much incentive – and of course being listed makes development impossible. There are many cases of buildings torn down by owners specifically to prevent them from being listed.

That leaves only the official route – but, according to Xanthou, even though Nicosia municipality sent Town Planning a list of buildings it deems notable and in need of protection, not a single one has been declared a listed building.

As so often, the inertia of civil servants is part of the problem. In this case, however, it’s not just ineptitude but a reflection of a wider mentality.

Take, for instance, last week’s press release on the €20 million revamp of the old GSP stadium in Nicosia, with the news that the project is “attracting major interest from well-known brands”.   

The centre of town is not a mall. It should be a showcase to attract visitors, and a microcosm of the city’s history. This is why distinctive and beautiful architecture is important, even beyond just being beautiful.

As long as the authorities keep thinking in terms of investors and well-known brands, the demolitions will continue.