Marino Lucas

Combining their interests in entertainment and building, the Lucas brothers were prominent figures in the construction of theatres in the southern states of Australia.

His involvement with the entertainment industry continued, and he not only built but operated theatres, at one stage acting as the manager of the Grand Tivoli Vaudeville Company.

[3][4] In 1911 Marino Lucas succeeded in building the Princess Theatre of his own design in Brisbane Street, Launceston, at a cost of between £14,000 and £15,000.

All the work except for the stamped metal ceilings was carried out in Launceston, with Messrs J & T Gunn as the contractors for the building, decoration and electric lighting.

Finally returning to Melbourne in the early 1920s, Lucas purchased the Fairholme mansion in Alexandra Street, St Kilda East.

He subsequently subdivided a portion of the north-eastern section of the grounds and built five residential houses in the California Bungalow style.

In 1895, Lucas married Elizabeth Eutrope (1864-1955), one of eight children of a chef father from Rochefort, France, and a mother from County Mayo, Ireland.