Gourt Home::Gourt :: Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 1728 - 3 March 1792) was a Scottish architect, interior designer and furniture designer, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. He was a leader of neoclassical taste in England and Scotland from around 1760 until his death. Sir William Chambers was the leading British official architect of the era, but Adam received many important commissions from private clients and had a more lasting stylistic influence.
Robert Adam was the second son of William Adam (1684-1748) of Maryburgh, Fife, a stonemason and architect of some note. His younger brother and business partner James Adam was also an architect of some note, but was overshadowed by Robert, and two further Adam brothers followed the family profession, but without achieving lasting fame.
Training
Robert studied at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, then entered the University of Edinburgh in 1743 only for his studies to be interrupted by illness and the Jacobite Rising of 1745. In 1746, he joined his elder brother, John Adam, as an assistant to his father, and after their father's death in 1748, the two brothers became partners in the family business, now known as 'Adam Brothers'.
Their first major commission was the decoration of the grand state apartments on the first floor at Hopetoun House, near South Queensferry west of Edinburgh, followed by projects at Fort George, Dumfries House and Inveraray. In 1754, Robert Adam set off for Europe on the Grand Tour of France and Italy, studying classical architecture and honing his drawing skills (his art tutors included French architect Charles Lois Clérisseau and architect and archaeologist Giovanni Battista Piranesi). During this journey, he studied intensively the ruins of Diocletian's palace at Split in Dalmatia, later publishing The Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian in 1764.
Business
He returned to Great Britain in 1758 and set up in business in London with his brothers James and William, focused on designing complete schemes for the decoration and furnishing of houses. Palladian design was popular, but Robert evolved a new, more flexible style incorporating elements of classic Roman design alongside influences from Greek, Byzantine and Baroque styles. The Adams' success can also be attributed to a desire to design everything down to the smallest detail, ensuring a sense of unity in their designs.
Projects
- The Adelphi development, London
- Screen in front of the Old Admiralty, Whitehall, London
- Alnwick Castle, Northumberland
- Apsley House, London (1778)
- Ballochmyle House, Ayrshire
- Bowood House, near Calne, Wiltshire
- Charlotte Square (north side), Edinburgh (1791)
- Culzean Castle, south Ayrshire (1772-1790)
- Edinburgh University Old College
- Gosford House, near Longniddry, East Lothian (1790–1800)
- Harewood House, West Yorkshire
- Kedleston Hall, near Derby (1759-1765)
- Kenwood House, Hampstead, London (1768)
- Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square, London
- Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire (1766-1770)
- Marlborough House, Brighton (1786)
- Mellerstain House, Kelso, Scottish Borders (1760-1768)
- Mistley Towers
- Northumberland House, London, alterations (1770s)
- Nostell Priory
- Osterley Park, west London (1761-1780)
- Paxton House, near Berwick-upon-Tweed (1758)
- Portland Place, London (1773)
- Pulteney Bridge, Bath (1770)
- Register House, Edinburgh (1774-1789)
- Saltram House, Plymouth, Devon
- Shardeloes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire
- Syon House interior, Brentford (1762-1769)
- Wedderburn Castle, Duns, Berwickshire (1770-1778)
Public life
Adam was elected a member of the Royal Society of Arts in 1758 and of the Society of Antiquaries in 1761, the same year he was appointed Architect of the King’s Works (jointly with Sir William Chambers). His younger brother James succeeded him in this post when he relinquished the role in 1768 in order to devote more time to his elected office as Member of Parliament for Kinross.
Robert Adam died suddenly at his home, 11 Albermarle Street, London, after a blood vessel in his stomach burst. He was 64. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. He left nearly 9,000 drawings, most of which were purchased by the architect John Soane and are now at the Soane Museum in London.
Further reading
- During their lifetime Robert and James Adam published two volumes of their designs, Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam (in 1773-78 and 1779; a third volume was published posthumously, in 1822).
- A comprehensive account of Robert’s furniture work is given in The Furniture of Robert Adam by Eileen Harris (published by Alec Tiranti, London, 1963) ISBN 0854589295. Harris later published The Genius of Robert Adam: His Interiors (2001) ISBN 0300081294
- John Fleming, Robert Adam and his Circle (1962) ISBN 0719500001
- Doreen Yarwood, Robert Adam (1970) ISBN 0460038249 and ISBN 0460021303 (1973 paperback)
- Damie Stillman, The Decorative Work of Robert Adam (1966) ISBN 085458160X
- Arthur T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert & James Adam, 1785–1794, 2 volumes (1922, reprinted 1984) ISBN 0907462499 (1984 edition)
- James Lees-Milne's The Age of Adam (1947) is aimed at the general reader.
See also
Scottish architects | Neoclassical architects | Interior designers | British furniture designers | Scottish designers | Scottish business people | University of Edinburgh alumni | Natives of Fife | 1728 births | 1792 deaths
Robert Adam | Robert Adam | Robert Adam | Robert Adam | ロバート・アダム | Robert Adam | Адам, Роберт | Robert Adam
"Robert Adam"