HEIDELBERG – On February 4th 2022, Tony Burisch of the Heidelberg Heritage Association awarded the latest blue plaque for the heritage site namely The Victorian Lodge at 67 HF Verwoerd Street, Heidelberg.  The property was once by the Lindeque Family. One of the Lindeque daughters married Pieter Frederik Strydom. Strydom was the first deacon in Suikerbosrand in 1842.

 

Heinrich Ueckermann purchased a piece of land from the farm Langlaagte from the owners Strydom and Venter to establish a trading post in 1862. With all the growth that happened it became Heidelberg. It was proclaimed a town in 1866. The original building and premises was initially the Old Herberg Hotel. Now known as the Victoria Lodge. It was one of the first hotels built in Heidelberg. The building was built around 1870 by the Heidelberg founder Heinrich Ueckermann.

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Source: Article written by Eugene Viljoen in the 9th February 2022 edition of the Heidelberg Nigel Heraut. Note by Tony: The place is run down due to be not been used. The property is in the process of changing hands and the potential new owners intend using the place as their residence.

 

When building the hotel he converted the stables into accommodation rooms. Ueckerman named Heidelberg after his hometown in Germany. At the time when gold was discovered in 1886, there were about 15 hotels and over 35 taverns and drinking establishments. At the time when gold was discovered, General Piet Retief Viljoen was the mining commissioner in Heidelberg. 

The Herberg Hotel (Victorian Lodge as it is knows today) played a big part in the history with the second Anglo Boer War as Veld Cornet Salmon van As was locked up in room 7 before he was wrongly executed on June 23, 1902 by the British Soldiers behind the Old Gaol (Old Jail) in Heidelberg.
Source: Article written by Eugene Viljoen in the 9th February 2022 edition of the Heidelberg Nigel Heraut.
Note by Tony: The place is run down due to be not been used. The property is in the process of changing hands and the potential new owners intend using the place as their residence.

I stayed here in Room No 5 for a month. I think in about 1995. I was going through a rough patch with my first wife and we were separated for a month. My marriage lasted another 5 years and we got divorced.
I remember we shared a communal kitchen and bathroom, with other tenants and that the bath water only trickled out of the taps when running a bath.