Gorteen House Hotel & Jenson's Nightclub
The Gorteen House was built around 1903 by the Boyle family as a large Edwardian villa, and at one point it was listed.
Very little of the house was kept by the looks of this and the next image.
Found this online (Credit unknown) When Gorteen was used as a house
The bottom newel post where the stairs would have started.
It was then sold to the Mclaughlin family in 1974 and ran as a hotel for many years with twenty-seven bedrooms, two restaurants, meeting rooms, and a popular nightclub that had its fair share of stars, such as Judge Jules and Sash! I also found online that it was listed in the Showbands-Dancehall listings as a venue for that era. So it must have been entertaining many for a long time.
Jensons Niteclub Mural
Inside showing the remains of Jenson’s Nightclub
But in 2003 it was attacked by arsonists who started a fire in a storeroom at the rear of the hotel. It took more than thirty firefighters over four hours to extinguish the blaze. Unfortunately that night a firefighter lost his life when a roof collapsed under him.
What was left of the kitchens
Function room. It was very dark as all windows had been boarded
Function Room. Quite a bit stripped out on my second visit.
Some murals I found at the rear of the hotel, nearly like the beer garden area
In 2006/7 the hotel was up for sale as a going concern. The new owner of the hotel closed it soon after which then had another two fires. Then it was demolished to make way for housing. I found very little historical information online about the house and if it had been delisted. Maybe someone who knows could shed some light on this. These images are from my visits in 2008 and 2011.
Do you remember working or visiting? I'd love to see your memories of your time here.
