I.

Introduction

Adam, family of 18th-century Scottish-born architects and furniture designers, who developed a refined, Neo-Classical style. The four Adam brothers, John, Robert, James, and William, were the sons of the Edinburgh architect, William Adam. They designed town and country houses and furnishings that reflected Britain's growing prosperity.

II.

William Adam

(1689-1748) was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland. Inspired by Sir John Vanbrugh and James Gibbs, he developed a style that was both eclectic and highly individual. His most noted buildings include Floors Castle (1718), Roxburgh; Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, which he enlarged in 1721; and Mavisbank House (1723), a Palladian mansion in Loanhead.

III.

Robert Adam

(1728-1792) is the most celebrated member of the family, the originator of the “Adam style”. Initially trained by his father, he spent the years 1754 to 1758 in Italy, where he studied the remains of ancient Roman architecture, particularly those of the emperor Diocletian's palace in Spalato (now Split, Croatia). Settling in London, he maintained a large private practice as well as serving as royal architect from 1761 to 1768. One of his most ambitious projects was the Adelphi (1768-1772; demolished 1936), a section of London riverfrontage designed as a single architectural unit. It included docks and warehouses under arches supporting a terrace and streets of houses. Also notable was his remodelling of Osterley Park (1761-1780) and Syon House (1762-1769), two great houses near London, and his design for Kedleston Hall (c. 1765-1770), Derbyshire. Especially important was his conviction that the interior of a building and its furnishings are the proper concern of the architect. Consequently, he designed furniture, textiles, and metalwork for his buildings. His Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian . . . (1764) and Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (1773-1779) established the Adam style—a simpler, more precise and delicate version of Neo-Classicism than the rich Palladian style previously in vogue. The Adam style was harmonious in design and proportion and gave a feeling of lightness and spaciousness. It used classical motifs, such as wreaths, swags, and urns. Adam furniture exhibits many similar qualities.

IV.

James Adam

(1732-1794) visited Naples in the early 1760s and his later interior designs were influenced by Pompeii. He joined the family business and was jointly responsible with his elder brother Robert for many buildings that redefined Classicism, including Portland Place (1776), London, for which he designed the facades. He was also the architect of the Glasgow Infirmary (1792) and the Tron Kirk, Glasgow (1794). He succeeded Robert as royal architect in 1769.

V.

John Adam

(1721-1792), the eldest son of William Adam, practised as an architect in Scotland and was the business partner of Robert in the years before he moved to London in 1758. Together they took over the building of the garrison fortress, Fort George, near Inverness, after their father’s death, and John completed Hopetoun House in 1756. Though less prolific than his brothers, he designed the family mausoleum in Edinburgh (1753); the Adam-style mansion, Moffat House (1761), Dumfries; and took a continued interest in the business affairs of the family after his retirement.

VI.

William Adam

(1738-1822), worked as a designer assisting his brothers Robert and James in London, but as sole survivor of the practice, wound up the firm in 1794. He went bankrupt in 1801.