George Parker practised as an architect from the mid to late twentieth century. He is best known for his multi-storey hotels and motels designed in the 1960s.
George Lucas Parker was born on 9 February 1918 at Toorak to Ferdinand Lucas Parker and Kathleen Ruth Isaachsen (SLSA Family History Database). Following the outbreak of World War Two, in 1939, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Engineers and a year later he became a lieutenant. ‘In 1941, he was seriously injured, fracturing his spine in an accident in an army truck and it was during his convalescence that ... [he] met Joyce Symons, a Red Cross volunteer at the hospital and they married in July 1943’ (‘In Memoriam’ online 2008). Parker continued his war service travelling to ‘New Guinea and Borneo where his expertise in Bailey Bridge construction under difficult wartime conditions was widely recognized’ (‘In Memoriam’ online 2008). In 1945 he was discharged from war service as a Captain (Page 1986: 195). George and Joyce Parker had six children; John, Richard, Lydia, Georgina, Geoffrey, and Carolyn (Tay). Parker died aged 89 on 24 November 2007 (Advertiser 2007: 111).
Parker was educated at the private Adelaide school - Pulteney Grammar. In 1935 he began his architectural education, studying at both the University of Adelaide and the South Australian School of Mines and Industries (School of Mines). He received a Beaux-Arts education at the School of Mines’ Architectural Department (G. Parker 2004, pers. comm., 15 November). Parker balanced his academic training with practical experience. In 1938 he was articled to William (Bill) Lucas who had emigrated from England to Australia in 1912 (Page 1986: 116, 131). Parker’s articles of apprenticeship and his academic education were both interrupted by the war. After the war he returned to Lucas’ practice (Page 1986: 183). He also recommenced his study and ‘in 1946 was one of the many students who studied under the Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme’ (Collins 2007: 183). This was an Australian government scheme which allowed returned servicemen and women to gain a tertiary education (Collins 2007: 176). Parker graduated in 1948 with the joint award of Fellowship of the South Australian School of Mines and Industries, and University of Adelaide Diploma in Applied Science in the course of Architectural Engineering (Walkley 1976: 120).
‘Parker developed a great admiration for Lucas, whom he ... [described as] ‘a completely honest and straightforward character … who contributed much to the architecture of this State not least by his inquiring and fresh approach to problems’’ (Parker cited in Page 1986: 183). After graduating, in 1948, Parker became Lucas’ partner. In 1956, after Lucas retired, he was promoted to senior partner in the practice then known as Lucas, Parker, & Partners. The practice went on to become Lucas, Parker, Berriman & Lake, and later Lucas, Parker & Lake (BRG 238 SLSA). In 1982 Parker retired and a few years later, in 1985, the firm Lucas, Parker & Lake amalgamated with the well-known Adelaide practice Jackman Gooden Architects Pty Ltd.
In 1982 Parker’s contribution to the profession was recognised when he was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (AIA online).
Parker returned to the Architectural Department at the School of Mines to lecture on a part-time basis in architectural drawing and building construction throughout the 1950s. He also lectured at the Regency Park College of Hotel Management on topics such as commercial kitchen and hotel design (‘In Memoriam’ online 2008).
Parker is best known for his design of hotels and motels. He was commissioned to design the Hotel Australia in North Adelaide. ‘Built with what was then the comparatively new technology of lift-slab construction, it was acclaimed by Professor Jensen as the outstanding building of 1960. Parker took the fullest possible advantage of the splendid site by giving hotel patrons panoramic views of Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills, and the hotel was one of those which introduced a new era of space, comfort, and modern facilities to travellers’ (Page 1986: 238). He went on to design the multi-storey Travelodge Motel on South Terrace in 1966. He described his design as a ‘clean-cut well-proportioned economic functional building with load-bearing walls’ (Parker cited in Page 1986: 238). Parker was soon commissioned to design other Travelodges. He developed a good reputation and this led to work in the South Pacific. He designed a range of building types including hotels, houses, flats, shopping centres and offices in locations such as Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, French Polynesia, and Fiji. He believed that ‘[t]he challenge was to design modern buildings which expressed indigenous building character and which met the stringent standards of good tropical construction’ (Parker cited in Page 1986: 238).
Parker continued to work on South Australian hotel commissions including various alterations and additions to the Barmera Hotel, alterations to the Kimba Community Hotel, and the Loxton Community Hotel-Motel (BRG 238 SLSA). He also received many other commissions ranging from educational - he was the architect for Pulteney Grammar for many years, to industrial – he designed alterations and additions for the Berri Co-operative Winery & Distillery at Glossop (BRG 238 SLSA).
Susan Collins
Citation details
Collins, Susan, 'Parker, George Lucas’, Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2008, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=80] | 
Architects of South Australia, Copyright 2008, Updated regularly