The House Factory

Between 1961 and 1971 Lend Lease Homes designed 60 houses, including four versions of the Beachcomber. In 1967 Nino Sydney won the first project home design award from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects for the Lend Lease Casa Blanca.

By the end of the 1960s the market for project homes in Australia had become very crowded and less attractive for Lend Lease, which also had large commercial projects to pursue. In the early 1970s it wound down Lend Lease Homes and withdrew from the project home business altogether.

Evolution of the Beachcomber

As both a distinctive and popular design, Beachcomber was the only Lend Lease project home to retain its name through its various improvements and incarnations, signified by Mark 1 to IV. Each new iteration featured changes in the cladding and the detail of the balustrades, although there were other changes in each one from 1961 to 1966.