Connell, Ward and Lucas
The partnership of Connell, Ward and Lucas only lasted from 1933 to 1939, but in this short time they designed buildings that had a lasting impact on British architecture, with their white walled houses bringing the international style to the Home Counties. Amays Connell and Basil Ward were both born in New Zealand at the turn of the 20th century, and met while studying architecture at the New Zealand Institute of Architecture They travelled to Britain to further their studies in 1924.
Colin Lucas was born in Greenwich in 1906, and began his architectural studies at Trinity College in Cambridge.After his studies he went into business with his father and a friend as Lucas, Lloyd and Co. where he produced concrete buildings like Noah’s House, Bourne End and the Flat Roof House, Little Frieth.
Connell studied architecture at the Rome School meeting Professor Bernard Ashmole there. When Ashmole left Rome 1928 and returned to Britain, he asked Connell to design a home on a site in Amersham, Bucks. Connell produced a Y shaped design in reinforced concrete over three floors The completed house divided public opinion, and gained Connell a level of fame The Connell, Ward and Lucas partnership would return to Amersham a few years later to build a sequence of Sun Houses near High and Over.
Lucas joined the duo in 1934 to make up the partnership of Connell, Ward and Lucas, and together they would design over 20 private houses and a number of other projects during their time together. Another house by the partnership would again provide controversy. The house at 66 Frognal in Hampstead has been called “one of the greatest acts of vandalism ever perpetrated in London” as well as “..the best pre-war house in England”.
The partnership itself lasted until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. The three architects went their own ways in the post war period, producing a variety of work. Amays Connell moved to East Africa in 1947, designing buildings in Tanzania and Kenya, the most high profile of which was the Parliament building in Nairobi in 1951. Basil Ward stayed in Britain and formed Ramsey Murray White and Ward (later Murray Ward and Partners). Colin Lucas would prove the most influential in his career after the partnership dissolved. Post 1945 he joined the London County Council architects department in the housing division. Here he used his knowledge of construction in reinforced concrete to help design the Ackroydon estate in Wandsworth and the Alton estate in Roehampton for the LCC, and later the Ferrier estate in Kidbrooke for the GLC.
Featured Buildings: 66 Frognal, 95 Salisbury Road, 97-101 Park Avenue, Bessborough Road, High and Over, Kent House, Sun Houses
See Also: Architects of the Week: Connell, Ward & Lucas, Colin Lucas, High and Over
Colin Lucas was born in Greenwich in 1906, and began his architectural studies at Trinity College in Cambridge.After his studies he went into business with his father and a friend as Lucas, Lloyd and Co. where he produced concrete buildings like Noah’s House, Bourne End and the Flat Roof House, Little Frieth.
Connell studied architecture at the Rome School meeting Professor Bernard Ashmole there. When Ashmole left Rome 1928 and returned to Britain, he asked Connell to design a home on a site in Amersham, Bucks. Connell produced a Y shaped design in reinforced concrete over three floors The completed house divided public opinion, and gained Connell a level of fame The Connell, Ward and Lucas partnership would return to Amersham a few years later to build a sequence of Sun Houses near High and Over.
Lucas joined the duo in 1934 to make up the partnership of Connell, Ward and Lucas, and together they would design over 20 private houses and a number of other projects during their time together. Another house by the partnership would again provide controversy. The house at 66 Frognal in Hampstead has been called “one of the greatest acts of vandalism ever perpetrated in London” as well as “..the best pre-war house in England”.
The partnership itself lasted until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. The three architects went their own ways in the post war period, producing a variety of work. Amays Connell moved to East Africa in 1947, designing buildings in Tanzania and Kenya, the most high profile of which was the Parliament building in Nairobi in 1951. Basil Ward stayed in Britain and formed Ramsey Murray White and Ward (later Murray Ward and Partners). Colin Lucas would prove the most influential in his career after the partnership dissolved. Post 1945 he joined the London County Council architects department in the housing division. Here he used his knowledge of construction in reinforced concrete to help design the Ackroydon estate in Wandsworth and the Alton estate in Roehampton for the LCC, and later the Ferrier estate in Kidbrooke for the GLC.
Featured Buildings: 66 Frognal, 95 Salisbury Road, 97-101 Park Avenue, Bessborough Road, High and Over, Kent House, Sun Houses
See Also: Architects of the Week: Connell, Ward & Lucas, Colin Lucas, High and Over