ADAM, ROBERT (1728-1792), British architect, the sec ond son of William Adam of Maryburgh, in Fife, and the most celebrated of four brothers, John, Robert, James, and William Adam, was born at Kirkcaldy in 1728. He studied at the Uni versity of Edinburgh, and probably received his first instruction in architecture from his father, who gave proofs of his own skill and taste in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (now demolished). Somewhere between 175o and 1754 he visited Italy, where he spent three years studying the remains of Roman architecture. There he was struck with the circumstance that practically noth ing had survived of the Greek and Roman masterpieces except public buildings, and that the private palaces, which Vitruvius and Pliny esteemed so highly, had practically vanished. One ex ample of such work, however, was extant in the ruins of Dio cletian's palace at Spalato, in Dalmatia, and this he visited in July 1757, taking with him the famous French architect and anti quary, C. L. Clerisseau, and two experienced draughtsmen, with whose assistance, after being arrested as a spy, he managed in five weeks to accumulate a sufficient number of measurements and careful plans and surveys to produce a restoration of the entire building in a fine work which he published in 1764, The Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian, etc. Adam regarded this as the last great achievement of Roman architecture, whereas to later stu dents it appears to mark the beginning of the decadence. The influence of these studies was apparent directly and indirectly in much of his subsequent work, which, indeed, was in great measure founded upon them.
After his return to England he came rapidly to the front, and in 1762 he was appointed sole architect to the king and the Board of Works. Six years later he resigned this office, in which he was succeeded by his brother James—who, however, held the office jointly with another—and entered parliament for the county of Kinross. In 1768 he and his three brothers leased the ground fronting the Thames, upon which the magnificent terrace of the Adelphi, one of their greatest achievements, was built for £1,200 on a 99 years' lease. The Adelphi was still standing in 1928, though imminently in danger from rebuilding proposals. The site presented attractive possibilities. A led down Bucking ham street to the river-side, and the plan was to raise against it, upon a terrace formed of massive arches and vaults and facing the river, a dignified quarter, of fine streets and stately buildings, suggestive of the Spalato ruins. Splendid, however, as the terrace and its houses are, both in conception and execution, the under ground work which upholds them is perhaps more remarkable still. Between 1773 and 1778 the brothers issued a fine series of folio engravings and descriptions of the designs for many of their most important works, which included several great public build ings and numberless large private houses; a fine volume was published in 1822. For the remaining years of Robert's life the practice of the firm was the most extensive in the country; his position was unquestioned, and when he died in 1792 he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey almost as a matter of course.
As an architect, Adam was strongly under Roman and Italian influences, and his style and aims were exotic rather than native. It was the signal triumph of his genius that he was able so to mould and adapt classical models as to create a new manner of the highest charm and distinction. Out of simple curvilinear forms, of which he principally preferred the oval, he evolved com binations of extraordinary grace and variety, and these entered into every detail of his work. In his view the architect was inti mately concerned with the furniture and the decorations of a building as well as with its form and construction, and this view he carried rigorously into practice, and with astonishing success. But whatever care he might have expended upon the flowing curves of a moulding or a decoration, it was strictly kept in its place; it contributed its share and no more to the total effect. He imparted the unity of a single imposing structure to a number of private houses grouped in a block which is so characteristic a feature of modern town building. A delightful but theoretically undesirable characteristic of his work is the use of stucco. Upon it he moulded delicate forms in subtle and beautiful proportions. His "compo" was used so successfully that the patent was in fringed; many of his moulds still exist and are in constant use. That most difficult feature, the column, he handled with en thusiasm and perfect mastery; he studied and wrote of it with minute pains, while his practice showed his grasp of the subject by all avoidance of bare imitation of the classic masters who first brought it to perfection. His work might be classic in form but it was independently developed by himself. It would be impos sible here to give a list of the innumerable works which he executed. In London, of course, the Adelphi stands pre-eminent; the screen and gate of the Admiralty and part of Fitzroy square are by him, and much of the older portion of Finsbury circus, besides whole streets of houses in the west end. There are the famous country houses of Lord Mansfield at Kenwood (High gate) and Luton Hoo, and decorations and additions to many more.
Robert Adam—with, there is reason to suspect, some help from his brother James—has left as deep and enduring a mark upon English furniture as upon English architecture. Robert Adam was no doubt at first led to turn his thoughts towards furniture by his desire to see his light, delicate, graceful interiors, with their large sense of atmosphere and their refined and finished detail, filled with plenishings which fitted naturally into his scheme. His own taste developed as he went on, but he was usually extremely suc cessful, and cabinet-makers are still reproducing his most effec tive designs. In his furniture he made lavish use of his favourite decorative motives—wreaths and paterae, the honeysuckle, and that fan ornament which he used so constantly. Thus an Adam house is a unique product of English art. From facade to fire irons, from the chimneys to the carpets, everything originated in the same order of ideas, and to this day an Adam drawing-room is to English what a Louis Seize room is to French art. In nothing were the Adams more successful than in the fine proportions of their mantelpieces and doors. The former, by reason of their simplicity and the readiness with which the "compo" ornaments can be applied and painted, are still made in cheap forms in great number.
John Adam succeeded to his father's practice as an architect in Edinburgh. James Adam studied in Rome, and eventually was closely associated with Robert ; William is variously said to have been a banker and an architect.
See John Swarbrick, Robert Adam and his brothers (1916) ; Arthur T. Bolton, Architecture of Robert and James Adam (1922). Both are illustrated. Mr. Bolton's book contains photographs of many Adam houses, and of many Adam interiors. Among country houses, Hatchlands, Shardeloes, Harewood House, Bowood, Kedleston, Syon House and Kenwood ; among the great houses of London, Lansdowne House, and of many public and private buildings in Scotland.