On 12 May 1940, he and his older brother were interned as "enemy aliens" - first at Bury St Edmonds, then Liverpool, the Isle of Man (where he turned 17), and Quebec in Canada.

In 1938 Mr Herman sponsored Seidler's uncle Marcus to move to Australia where he set up a clothing manufacturing business in Sydney.

[1] In 1941 Seidler was released to study at the University of Manitoba where he obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree with first class honours.

After a year of architectural work in Canada he won a scholarship to the Harvard School of Design where he studied under Walter Gropius, former head of Bauhaus.

He left Harvard's "electrifying atmosphere" with the "feeling that we were destined to play our part in transforming the visual man made world."

Seidler's commitment to Modernism was reinforced by his attendance at the 1946 summer school at Black Mountain College where he studied with Josef Albers, former design teacher at the Bauhaus.

As possibly the purest example of mid-century modern domestic architecture in Australia, it was enormously controversial when built, stimulating much social comment and intellectual debate.

Seidler stood his ground and refused to compromise his architectural vision in the face of restrictive building regulations in New South Wales during the 1940s and 1950s, leading to several landmark court cases.

[1] Seidler's early houses from 1949 to 1954 established an authentic version of modern architecture embracing Gropius' modernist principles (which stemmed from the Bauhaus).

Only four significant small projects were undertaken between 1962 and 1969: a ski lodge in Thredbo (1962), a holiday house in Port Hacking (1963), the Seidlers' own home (1966–67) and the memorial to victims of the Holocaust, at Rookwood Cemetery (1969).

The choice of a circular plan for the ground breaking Australia Square Building (1963–67) marked an important departure from the established rectilinear order of Seidler's earlier work [Philip Drew].

[1] Internationally Seidler is known for the Australian Embassy in Paris, the Hong Kong Club and Offices, a community for 2500 people in Vienna, as well as buildings in Acapulco.

Surrounded by a natural bush reserve, the site's rocky sandstone ledges slope steeply down toward a creek and a waterfall.

The floors of the living areas are surfaced with split slabs of Norwegian quartzite stone and ceiling lined with Tasmanian oak boarding.

[1] The concrete masonry and glass of the house contrasted the precise geometry of its evident man made forms with the rugged complexity of its stony, sloping site.

Philip Drew has described this house as "a Brutalist "Falling Water", more American, more late Breuer in its strong forms, and Viennese in its will to permanence, in its hard Norwegian quartzite floors and determination to impose an aesthetic on the Australian bush.

"[1] Instead of building a road on to the site, the Seidlers placed the garage and visitors' car park area at the top of the hill, directly off the street dramatically suspended over a large rock ledge which was left exposed.

"[1] Harry Seidler resided at this house until his death at the age of 82, at home on 9 March 2006, after fifty-seven years of practice as an architect in NSW.

Now internationally recognised as a member of the Third Generation of 20th Century Architects, he has produced an idiom that is an amalgam of the best of the several cultures to which he has been exposed and is placed firmly in the mainstream of Modern Architecture.

The main ingredients were already there in the form of remnant mature native trees and the landform of the small stream that the house overlooked.

The simple play for instance, of shadowed leaf patterns dancing on crisply defined facades, gained his attention and raised the image of landscape as a dynamic participant.

"[1][4] Penelope Alice Marjorie Seidler (née Evatt) BArch, BBus, FRAIA, ASA was born in 1938.

[1] Harry Seidler has described his first visit to the Evatt family home at 69 Junction Road, Wahroonga, in 1950 as "momentous" and cites the Hon.

The building is approached from the road at the top and steps down from a cantilevered garage through four half levels which follow the slope of the land.

[1] The building and associated art works have a high degree of integrity as a result of its having remained the Seidlers' principal residence since 25 June 1967.