Background
Lucas was born in Sydney in 1924.
Lucas was born in Sydney in 1924.
Lucas then went on to study architecture at the University of Sydney where he graduated with honours. Lucas also studied Visual Arts at the East Sydney Technical University.
While practicing as a full-time architect, Lucas also worked as a part-time lecturer at the School of Architecture of the University of New South Wales for a decade. The Lucases became actively involved in helping to prevent the suburb of Paddington from comprehensive redevelopment. Paddington was the scene of many historical sites and architecture, notably Juniper Hall and Centennial Park.
They helped set up the Paddington Society which campaigned to prevent Juniper Hall from being renovated and revamped.
The Society also lobbied to prevent a sports stadium from being built in Centennial Park. The society still functions today as an action group but also serves to record the historical landmarks of the area.
Lucas helped to further develop the architecture program at the University of New South Wales, where he taught for ten years between 1965 and 1975. At this time, Lucas supervised students from UNSW, University of Sydney and the New South Wales Institute of Technology who were working on projects for R. Buckminster Fuller’s World Design Science Decade.
Until 1990 Lucas continued to design houses, such as the Sieverding House, where he worked on and off with Cracknell & Lonergan Architects until his death.
Lucas died on 10 September 2001 of a heart attack. He died at Moonbah, Thredbo where he had designed a ski lodge in his early working days with Marion Hall Best. The Glass House, 1957 - designed in collaboration with Ruth Lucas.
This stripping down of the building to its structural components is also visible in other houses designed by Lucas in Castlecrag.
The Block House – Castlecrag, commissioned by Con and Addie Saltis, 1960
76 and 78 The Bulwark, Castlecrag with Neville Lucas
Moonbah Ski Lodge, Thredbo with Marion Hall Best, 1956-1963
Guriganya Progressive Community School, 1970
Ruth Lucas: Bourke Aboriginal Housing with community, 1970
Orange Tree Grove, 8 Bennetts Grove Avenue, Paddington, (with Michael Coote) commissioned by Ian Kennedy, 1968.