Our History

This beautiful nineteenth-century house retains much of its original fabric including its attractive windows. It is a very large example of a five-bay two-storey which gives it an air of simple grandeur. The building was originally a country house in circa 1830 and is now in use as a unique and well-designed meetings and event space which forms part of The Address Citywest. The walls are roughcast rendered with a smooth rendered base course, while windows are timber sash. The country house has a pitched slate roof with smooth rendered chimney stack to gables with a gable-ended two-storey wing to south. The entrance was once set into a conservatory extension to south-east elevation, however this has been removed to restore the building to its original grandeur. The boundary consists of limestone rubble wall with square-plan rubble pier.

The Lodge was once home to Josef Locke, a famous Irish Tenor born in the City of Derry as Joseph McLaughlin in 1917. He is remembered both as a talented tenor and a “larger-than-life character”. Before going into showbusiness he worked for a time in the RUC in Enniskillen where he earned the nickname “The Singing Bobby”. He went on to become one of the highest-paid entertainers in Britain commanding fees of up to £2,000 per week as the brightest star on the variety circuit.    Locke got his first break in 1943 playing the role of Gaylord in a performance of Showboat at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin which was followed by a string of acclaimed performances across the capital. The combination of his mighty voice, impressive physique and sense of humour were irresistible to many including his female fans.    Predominantly female audiences would pack out venues to hear his trademark songs “Blaze Away”, “How Could You Buy Killarney “and “The Last Goodbye”.

Locke continued to perform on a lower key throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s. In 1992 a movie was released that was loosely based on his life “Hear My Song”, the title track entered pop charts for the first time. Locke appeared on the Late Late show in 1984 where he summarised his time as a performer as “bloody marvellous”.   Sources: National inventory of architectural heritage Josef Locke passed away in October 1999.