Editorial: Assembly Rooms listing is welcome - but it shines a light on our handling of historic buildings

The news that Belfast’s Assembly Rooms are to be added to a watch list of international monuments is good news for the historic building, but shines a light on how even some of Northern Ireland’s most treasured buildings have been cared for.

​The city centre building has been added to the World Monuments Fund (WMF) list. The organisation is dedicated to the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage globally.

The 18th century Assembly Rooms on Waring Street are among the oldest surviving civic buildings in the city. They are currently derelict – and were officially declared at-risk over two decades ago.

The WMF recognition is a glimmer of hope that the buildings – built in 1769 – may now receive the attention and care they need from the appropriate authorities.

Built just over thirty years after the first edition of the News Letter was published, they have a rich history – including being the place where attempts to set up a slave trade company in Belfast were scuppered.

The Assembly Rooms were also the backdrop for a pivotal event in British and Irish history, when United Irishmen were executed after the failed uprising of 1798.

It was the 1970s before the buildings received official protection – but that has done little to secure the condition of the buildings which are now in a state of disrepair amid growing concern about their future.

Sadly, this is a familiar tale in Northern Ireland, where many of our most beautiful and historically significant built heritage has been allowed to crumble – often making way for soulless replacements which add little or nothing to the fabric of our towns and cities.

The new status afforded to the Assembly Rooms should focus minds on saving this gem in our capital city.