Bill Lucas b. 1924

  • Architect (Furniture Designer / Cabinetmaker)
Bill Lucas was a Sydney architect best known for his own Lucas house, aka Glass House, Castlecrag (1958). During the early 1950s, he also designed furniture and interiors, often in partnerships.

Bill Lucas (1924-2001) served in the RAAF during World War II, then gained his B.Arch (Hons) from the University of Sydney and studied visual art at the East Sydney Technical School, completing these studies in 1950. In 1948, he worked in New Zealand with Hugh Grierson Architects, and designed and built his first home at Gymea Bay, Sydney, with his brother Neville. From 1948 to 1951, he also designed the Gymea Bay Community Hall and Gymea Bay Baby Health Centre. In 1950, he bought three adjoining house sites in Castlecrag. From 1952 to 1955, his company, Lucas-Gee Associates, designed and built furniture, the Kearns House at Sylvania, and other steel and timber houses. He also designed factories and developed systems for furniture manufacture. From 1955 to 1957, he joined the Design Group with Neville Gruzman, Ruth Harvey and Tony Moore; they lobbied for an international competition and jury for the proposed Sydney Opera House. In 1956, he married colleague Ruth Harvey, won a furniture competition run by the Forestry Commission, and designed and built the Mt Irvine Village Hall. From 1956 to 1960, he designed road haulage depots and offices for Kwikasair and Ipec. Between 1956 and 1963, he worked with interior designer Marion Best and industrial designer Carl Neilsen on the Elizabeth Arden Salon, Sydney, and Moonbah Ski Lodge, Thredbo. In 1957, he and Ruth designed The Glass House, 80 The Bulwark, Castlecrag. In 1960, he completed the Gyngell House, Woollahra, and Saltis House, Castlecrag. In 1961, he worked to reclaim the Marion Mahony/Walter Burley Griffin parkways and outdoor amphitheatre in Castlecrag. In 1962, he designed the Orange Tree Grove Cooperative Art Centre with Owen Tooth, Marion Best and Mary White. He moved to Underwood Street, Paddington, and helped to develop The Paddington Society and its objections to inner city slum clearances. During the 1960s, he worked with other architects to create an architecture program at the University of NSW and began tutoring there. From 1965 to 1975, he was a design tutor, co-ordinating students from UNSW, USyd and NSWIT on projects for R. Buckminster Fuller’s World Design Science Decade. As a result, Fuller visited Australia several times. In 1966, he designed and built his final house at Castlecrag. In 1967, he completed the Clune House, Avalon and designed a medium-density housing project, Orange Tree Grove, at Bennetts Lane, Paddington. He also developed proposals for Tranby Aboriginal Cooperative at Mission Beach Queensland. In 1968, he designed the Blackheath Motor Inn and designed a motel tower with indigenous perimeter plantings on each level for the Clune Family. In 1969, he played a key role in establishing the Paddington Market Centre with the Uniting Church. In 1970, he arranged the purchase of ‘Sea View Villa’, Oxford St, Paddington, (built by Alfred Fairfax, 1841) where Ruth helped establish the Guriganya Progressive Community School. He also designed and built aboriginal housing with the community at Bourke. In 1973, he worked with students on a Woolloomooloo redevelopment proposal, designed and installed hygiene infrastructure at the Aquarius Festival in Nimbin and co-designed Murawina, a kindergarten and hostel for Aboriginal mothers in Redfern. In 1975, he began making a documentary of Paddington’s renewal and regrowth and lost his Underwood Street properties. In 1978, he designed the Sieverding House. In 1979, he visited Bali on a study tour for a proposed Masters degree, ‘The Greening Of Cities’ and built a media room for Reg Grundy, Bayview (a four-hour fire-rated prototype for rebuilding cities). In 1981, he began collaborating with Theatre Unlimited and in 1983 designed sets for the One Extra Dance Company. In 1985, he took a three-month study trip to work with the people of Erromango, Vanuatu. From 1985 to 2001, he was honorary technical advisor to many individuals and community groups here and Europe. From 1990 to 2001, he was an occasional associate with Cracknell & Lonergan Architects on their projects with the Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative. He also developed studies and proposals for a UTS Redevelopment, Broadway; redevelopment of Taylors Square, Darlinghurst; the reservoir and John Thomson Reserve, Paddington; the Alexandra Canal, Waterloo; Green Square, Waterloo; the Eveleigh Workshops, Newtown; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Circular Quay; West Circular Quay, Circular Quay; and developments at the University of NSW, White City, Paddington and the Police Citizens Youth Club, Paddington. In 2001, he died of a heart attack while staying at Moonbah in Thredbo.
Sources
—Architecture Australia website: www.archmedia.com.au

Writers:

Davina Jackson
Date written:
2015
Last updated:
2015