Isaac Luck

Isaac Luck
Isaac Luck in ca 1860
3rd Chairman of the Christchurch Town Council
Preceded by	John Ollivier
Succeeded by	Edward Bishop
Personal details
Born	12 May 1817 Oxford, England
Died	15 December 1881(1881-12-15) (aged 64) Bristol, England
Spouse(s)	Susan Luck
Profession	Builder, architect

Isaac Luck (12 May 1817 – 15 December 1881) was a New Zealand architect. A professional builder, he arrived in Lyttelton on the Steadfast in 1851. He was the third chairman of the Christchurch Town Council. He was the brother-in-law of and in partnership with Benjamin Mountfort, and was the less well-known architectural partner for the design of the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings.

Luck was born in 1817 in Oxford, England; his parents were Jesse and Mary Luck. He worked in a partnership with John Plowman as builder and architect. Some of his buildings in England include the Littlemore Lunatic Asylum (1846, as builder), the parsonage at Burton Dassett (1847, as architect), additions to the Oxford Lunatic Asylum (1847, as architect), and additions to the Union Poor House in Faringdon (1849, as builder). He was the surveyor for the demolition of the old Aylesbury Prison. His partnership with Plowman was dissolved in 1850.

Luck arrived in Lyttelton on the Steadfast on 9 June 1851. In 1852, Luck built the Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Lyttelton, which was architect Benjamin Mountfort's first commission in New Zealand. The building proved vulnerable to high winds and was considered unsafe. It was demolished in 1857.

During an 1852 visit to Christchurch of the Governor, George Grey, it was agreed that the government would pay for a lock-up. Luck built the structure on the corner of Armagh Street and Cambridge Terrace at the Market Place, which measured only 10 by 20 feet (3.0 m × 6.1 m), and which was built by June of that year. What was long talked about afterwards was that upon completion, he held a ball in it for his friends.