Basic Biographical Details

Name: Robert Adam
Designation:  
Born: 3 July 1728
Died: 3 March 1792
Bio Notes: Robert Adam was born on 3 July 1728 in Kirkcaldy, the second surviving son of William Adam, architect and business man, and his wife Mary Robertson. He was educated at the High School in Edinburgh and studied at the University there from 1743. In Edinburgh he became acquainted with some of the leading intellectual figures of the day including William Robertson who was Adam’s cousin, Adam Smith, also a native of Kirkcaldy, David Hume and Adam Ferguson with whom he struck up a particular friendship. He probably attended one of the local drawing schools while studying at the University which he left prematurely in 1745 or 1746 to join his father’s office as it was particularly pressed at that time.

William Adam died in 1748 and Robert and his elder brother John formed a partnership to carry on his architectural and contracting business. In the latter capacity the partnership constructed and reconstructed the series of Highland forts after the end of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, including Fort George, the Board of Ordnance being responsible for their design. As draughtsmen with the Board of Ordnance Paul and Thomas Sandby came to Scotland to record and map the installations. Paul Sandby’s Picturesque style of draughtsmanship clearly had an effect on the young Robert Adam. Fort George also provided Adam with a visual training in the details of military and by extension castle architecture. Alongside the military work the Adams were completing Hopetoun House, begun by William Adam in 1725.

The contracting side of the Adam business was profitable. By 1754 Robert had a capital of £5000 which enabled him to undertake a tour of Italy. Robert left Edinburgh in October 1754 on a modified version of the ‘Grand Tour’. In Brussels he joined the Hon. Charles Hope, younger brother of the Earl of Hopetoun, whose presence gave him immediate entry into aristocratic society wherever they went. The French architectural designer Charles-Louis Clérisseau was persuaded to join them in Florence. This was a coup as they thus acquired the services of a brilliant draughtsman with a penchant for the neo-classical. They arrived in Rome in February 1755 and under Clérisseau, Adam embarked on a programme of study and drawing from the antique. He attended drawing classes at Pompeo Batoni’s academy. He was also instructed in the composition of architectural scenery by Charles-Louis Lallemand and in architectural composition by Laurent-Benoit Dewez. Dewez’s influence continued beyond the Roman sojourn as he followed Adam to London in 1758. Also in the circle in which he moved in Rome was the engraver G B Piranesi who later dedicated a work to Robert Adam and who had an important effect on Adam’s vision of the past. During his time in Rome Adam and Clérisseau visited the ruins of Diocletian’s palace in Split, Dalmatia and completed Adam exploration and measurement of the palace in the space of five weeks. This was published in 1764.

Adam returned to England via the Rhineland in January 1757. His brother James made an Italian tour in 1760-63. Robert Adam established himself in a house in Lower Grosvenor Street with his collection of pictures and classical fragments. He was soon joined there by his sisters and two of his brothers, James and William. In Italy he had resolved to set up practice in London as he felt that Scotland was a ‘narrow place’ and England offered scope to become, as was his ambition, a leading architect in both countries. From this point onwards, Robert Adam became the prominent member of the family firm through his brilliance as a designer and through his ability for sheer hard work. At the same time William Adam provided business acumen and John Adam provided the capital from his estate at Blair Adam. The support of various fellow Scots in London was also significant – the Duke of Argyll and Lord Bute proved important patrons. Lord Bute secured for him the post of Architect of the King’s Works for Robert in 1761 (a post which he retained until 1769), the same year in which he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. He had been member of the Society of Arts from 1757. He obtained the post of Surveyor to the Chelsea hospital in 1765 and this he retained until his death.

During this period Adam changed the face of English domestic architecture. In place of Lord Burlington’s Palladianism with its strict adherence to the hierarchy of the orders, he introduced a new vocabulary which drew from a wide range of sources from antiquity to the Cinquecento. Initially he worked in what is described by Alan Tait as ‘rococo classicism’ in the 1760s but this soon gave way to a more obviously antique manner with stronger and bolder colours used in the interiors exemplified in interiors such as Derby House, London and Osterley Park Middlesex. The use of colour became an essential element in the ‘Adam style’ as much as interior detailing. His style was adopted to a greater or lesser extent almost immediately by architects and builders. Only Sir William Chambers remained unaffected and his disproval of Adam’s ‘affectations’ may be connected with the fact that Adam was never elected to the Royal Academy.

It was Adam’s approach to interior design that had the greatest impact. In planning terms he managed to arrange sequences of rooms with interesting shapes (as opposed to the earlier Georgian simple rectangular rooms. Every surface and every element were treated as part of the overall scheme which was highly sophisticated – from walls to carpets, ceilings to furniture. All sorts of neoclassical and Renaissance motifs, such as griffins, sphinxes, altars, urns and putti, were incorporated. Plasterwork ceilings, which often incorporated painted panels, were executed by Joseph Rose. Interior details were echoed on the exterior (where the commission allowed) in the form of delicate plasterwork, thus enabling coherence in his buildings.

Adam’s ingenuity in planning buildings is demonstrated by his remodelling of various town houses in London. In Derby House in Grosvenor Square, a town house in a terrace and constricted by the site, he succeeded in re-arranging the spaces and separating out rooms with private or public functions by combining the French concept of a succession of rooms with the traditional English circuit. Alan Tait notes that ‘there can be little doubt that Derby House and Wynn House and in the interiors of Home House (1773) set a new standard of brilliance, movement and informality’. By the 19th century his plans were described by C R Cockerell as a ‘labrinth’.

Adam’s country house practice was large and wide ranging with commissions in England, Scotland and Ireland. Many of his early commissions were for remodelling or adapting earlier houses – at Harewood and Kedleston for example. His grandest house of this time was Luton Hoo which was uncompromisingly neoclassical in design. The client for Luton Hoo was the Earl of Bute whose patronage and support for Adam was invaluable. Luton Hoo, however, was never completed and was partially destroyed and rebuilt in the 20th century. His design for Gosford House in East Lothian (now remodelled) is perhaps the best example by Adam of a large and original country house.

During this time Adam advertised himself through his publications, the volume on Diocletian’s Palace published in 1764 followed by the first volume ‘Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam’ which appeared between 1773 and 1778. Subsequent volumes appeared in 1779 and 1822, the latter after Adam’s death. In the first volume they claimed to have re-introduced ‘movement’ in architecture ‘the rise and fall, the advance and recess with other diversity of form in the different parts of the building’. The Adams expressed admiration for the work of Sir John Vanbrugh although deploring some of his ‘barbarisms’. The picturesque approach to design which developed in the mid-1770s was learned in part from Paul Sandby’s approach, known to Adam from their work on the Highland forts. Robert Adam’s copious sketches in pen and wash reveal his vision of the Romantic landscape. He began to experiment with the complex relationship between a building, its setting and a sense of history. An example of this is his design for the office court at Brampton Ryan in Herefordshire which he cast as an abandoned and decayed Roman camp. His work at Culzean and Seton also demonstrate his vision at this time and are much influenced by Sandby. Culzean on an isolated promontory site was designed as a ruinous castle using a mixture of classical and Gothic elements on the exterior and classical details in the interior. The views from the curving double staircase and round drawing room with views to the sea were fulfilled the Picturesque ideal.

The Adam practice was one of the busiest ones in England between the 1750s and the 1780s, despite the state of affairs in the country as a whole in the 1770s. His immense output was only made possible by the presence of a number of highly capable draughtsmen in the office. Of particular note are Laurent-Benoit Dewez had met Adam in Rome and later followed him to England but who left in 1759 and went on to become a leading architect in Belgium; George Richardson, also a Scot by birth, who had accompanied James Adam on the Grand Tour; the Italians Agostino Brunias, Joseph Bonomi, Giuseppe Manocchi and Antonio Zucchi. Manocchi and Zucchi were decorative artists and each had a specific influence of the Adam style. Manocchi who returned to Italy in 1773 thought he had been badly treated by the Adams. On the other hand George Richardson spoke kindly of his time in the office in one of his publications. The Adams had a firm grip on their employees. All the drawings were the property of the office and were signed as such.

Adam’s practice was certainly the most fashionable at the time. Despite this Adam was given very few opportunities for monumental design on a large scale. By the time he returned from Italy, many of the Whig aristocrats had already built their mansions and Adam’s role was simply to design their interiors. Only very rarely did Adam get the opportunity to design a whole building from scratch. Public commissions came late in his life – Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities and Register House in Edinburgh. The Cambridge scheme did not come to fruition while at Edinburgh University, the buildings were completed in a very different way from what he had intended. Only at Register House did he achieve something his ambition for a monumental building.

The Adelphi was initiated in part because of the ‘desire to raise a great building of a semi-public nature in the monumental manner’. The Adam brothers took 99 year lease of an extensive area on the north bank of the Thames where they intended to erect twenty-four houses, treated as a single architectural composition and raised on a terrace, the vaulted interior of which was intended to be let as warehouses. As a speculation it was dubious. David Hume wrote to Adam Smith in June 1772 : ‘the scheme of the Adelphi always appeared so imprudent, that my wonder is, how they cou’d have gone on so long’. The national credit crisis of 1772 led to the abandonment of the scheme and the near financial ruin of Adam.

The publication of ‘The Works in Architecture’ was in part a response to the relative failure of the Adelphi venture, begun 1768, and the adverse publicity it attracted. The brothers saved themselves from financial ruin in various ways. They failed to raise enough money by a loan on the security of the Blair Adam estate and by the sale of many works of art that they had brought back from Italy. However by holding a lottery in 1774 they disposed of the whole property of the Adelphi and they retrieved the situation. However it was thought that he used his position as Member of Parliament for Kinross-shire (1768-1774) for obtaining the act of Parliament promoting the lottery. In 1773 they had become involved in another town planning venture in Marylebone, though not this time as principals. The Adam proposal was for a series of detached villas along Portland Place. However the American War of Independence meant that the project as first envisaged was aborted. Instead of individual mansions, blocks of houses were built, again designed by the Adams. Each house was built as an individual speculation.

During the 1770s Adam began to acquire a reputation as a poor administrator and that he lacked sound financial judgement. His country house commissions often overran the budget – such as at Harewood and at Brasted in Kent where the agreed maximum was £5000 but the eventual cost £9500. His reputation was not enhanced by the lawsuit over stucco. The Adams acquired the patent for two stucco compositions from two different people, David Wark of Haddington and a Swiss clergyman called Liardet, and in 1776 obtained an Act of Parliament vesting in the patentees the exclusive right to manufacture what they called ‘Adam’s new invented patent stucco’. John Johnson produced a rival stucco claiming that it had been invented before that of Wark or Liardet. The Adams claimed Johnson had infringed their patent and initiated a lawsuit. Lord Mansfield was the judge in the case and found in favour of the Adams. As both client and fellow Scot he was thought to have been biased. The case attracted much publicity.

By 1780 James Wyatt had begun to eclipse Robert Adam in popularity. As a result the last ten years of Adam’s life were spent on jobs in Scotland where he obtained commissions for both public commissions, such as the urban developments in Glasgow and Edinburgh and country houses. There he continued to develop the picturesque castle style, a fusion of Gothic and classical elements, which characterised much of his later country house work.

Robert Adam died suddenly in Abermarle Street in London on 3 March 1792. He had been ill some time before with a ‘complaint in his stummach’ and it returned in early 1792. He was unmarried. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Although the funeral was private, the pall bearers were a distinguished group of people: the Duke of Buccleuch, the Earl of Coventry, the Earl of Lauderdale, Viscount Stormont, Lord Frederick Campbell, and William Pulteney of Whitehall. James Adam’s death in 1794 meant the end of the firm, although William Adam did submit designs for the completion of the University of Edinburgh buildings. William went bankrupt in 1801 and in 1818 and 1821 sold the family belongings.

As a person Adam was a man of considerable charm and ability. His pall bearers testify to Adam’s patronage and friendship. Joseph Bonomi, Adam’s leading draughtsman, spoke well of him and his contemporaries compared him favourably with William Chambers.

The vast corpus of architectural drawings by the Adams was purchased by Sir John Soane and is now in the Soane Museum. There are other drawings in the V & A, the National Gallery of Scotland, and the RIBA. Some remain at Blair Adam and Penicuik House.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 313, Albemarle Street, London, EnglandPrivate/business 1792 
Item 2 of 3Lower Grosvenor Street, London, EnglandPrivate/business1757  
Item 3 of 3Royal Terrace, Adelphi, London, EnglandPrivate/business1772  

Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 1R & J Adam17581792Partner 

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 239 27 Portland Place  LondonEngland 
Item 2 of 2391750sWestminster Abbey, monuments  LondonEngland 
Item 3 of 2391750Hopetoun HouseAbercorn West LothianScotlandCompletion
Item 4 of 2391753Yester House, St Bothan's ChapelYester East LothianScotlandProbably designed Gothic facade to truncated church to serve as burial place for 4th Marquess of Tweeddale
Item 5 of 2391754Dumfries HouseCumnock (near) AyrshireScotland 
Item 6 of 2391755Craigiehall GrottoSouth Queensferry West LothianScotland 
Item 7 of 2391756Newhall HouseGifford East LothianScotlandAlterations or additions contemplated - not carried out?
Item 8 of 2391757Craigiehall BridgeSouth Queensferry West LothianScotland 
Item 9 of 2391758Gordon HouseIsleworth MiddlesexEnglandEnlargement
Item 10 of 2391758Hatchlands  SurreyEnglandInteriors
Item 11 of 239c. 1758Yester HouseGifford East LothianScotlandInterior of great saloon - in collaboration with John Adam. 'Buildings of Scotland' notes that in 1789 Robert Adam adjusted windows at the north end.
Item 12 of 2391759Craigiehall TempleSouth Queensferry West LothianScotland 
Item 13 of 2391759ShardeloesAmersham BuckinghamshireEnglandPortico, interior decorations and stables
Item 14 of 2391760s(?)Design for a castellated house, Lowther   WestmorlandEnglandTwo alternative schemes.
Item 15 of 2391760Croome Court  WorcestershireEnglandInteriors and orangery
Item 16 of 2391760Screen-wall to the Admiralty Arch  LondonEngland 
Item 17 of 239c. 1760Kedleston Hall  DerbyshireEnglandCompleted house after Matthew Brettingham and James Paine had begun the central block and quadrants. Adams were responsible for the south front, the saloon, the interior decoration, the bridge, fishing house, and other minor buildoings on the estate.
Item 18 of 239c. 1760Kedleston HotelQuarndon DerbyshireEngland 
Item 19 of 2391761Bowood House  WiltshireEnglandAlterations to portico, design of interiors and remodelling of offcie block.
Item 20 of 2391761Bowood House  WiltshireEnglandMausoleum - in memory of the 1st Earl
Item 21 of 2391761Little Wallingford House  LondonEnglandEntrance screen
Item 22 of 2391761Painshill  SurreyEnglandCeiling of Temple of Bacchus ('probably')
Item 23 of 2391761Shambles and Butter MarketHigh Wycombe BuckinghamshireEnglandRebuilding
Item 24 of 239c. 1761Compton Verney  WarwickshireEnglandRebuilding of north and south wings, addition of portico, formation of great hall etc and probably designed orangery.
Item 25 of 2391762Buckingham House  LondonEnglandArchitectural transparency
Item 26 of 2391762Lansdowne House  LondonEngland 
Item 27 of 2391762Mersham-Le-Hatch  KentEngland 
Item 28 of 2391762St Nicholas' Chapel, Monument to Sir Benjamin Keene (d.1757)King's Lynn NorfolkEngland 
Item 29 of 2391762Syon HouseIsleworth MiddlesexEnglandRemodelling of interior
Item 30 of 239c. 1762Buckingham House  LondonEnglandCeiling and chimneypiece
Item 31 of 239c. 1762Witham Park  SomersetEnglandHouse begun about 1762 but abandoned after Beckford's death in 1770.
Item 32 of 2391763Audley End  EssexEnglandInterior decoration.
Item 33 of 2391763Croome ChurchCroome WorcestershireEnglandGothic interior decoration
Item 34 of 2391763House, no 19 Arlington Street  LondonEnglandAlterations and decorations
Item 35 of 2391763Kedleston Church, Monument to Sir Nathaniel Curzon (d. 1758)  DerbyshireEngland 
Item 36 of 2391763Moor Park  HertfordshireEnglandGateway, tea-pavilion and perhaps also ceiling of gallery.
Item 37 of 2391763Osterley Park  MiddlesexEnglandRemodelling of house. Also designed entrance lodges, bridge and garden house.
Item 38 of 2391763Riding School  EdinburghScotland 
Item 39 of 2391763St Michael Penkevil Church, Monument to Admiral Edward Boscawen (d.1761)  CornwallEngland 
Item 40 of 2391763Ugbrooke Park  DevonEnglandRebuilding in 'castle style'
Item 41 of 239After 1763Mersham Church, tablet to Sir William Knatchbull (d.1763)Mersham KentEngland 
Item 42 of 2391764Audley End  EssexEnglandThree-arched bridge
Item 43 of 2391764House, 18 (later 19) Grosvenor Square  LondonEnglandAlterations
Item 44 of 2391764Kimbolton Castle  HuntingdonshireEnglandGatehouse, entrance screen and St Neot's road gates.
Item 45 of 2391765Coventry House  LondonEnglandInteriors
Item 46 of 2391765Harewood House  YorkshireEnglandModified John Carr's designs and designed interiors
Item 47 of 2391765House, 34 (later 35) Pall Mall  LondonEngland 
Item 48 of 2391765Langford House  DublinEireCeiling in drawing room
Item 49 of 2391765Nostell Priory  YorkshireEnglandRemodelled hall and decorated principal rooms.
Item 50 of 2391766Auchincruive  AyrshireScotlandInteriors
Item 51 of 2391766Croome Court  WorcestershireEnglandDunstall Castle - and 'The Owl's Nest' (a garden alcove) in 1766
Item 52 of 2391766Fife House  LondonEnglandInterior of a room
Item 53 of 2391766Grant LodgeElgin MorayshireScotland 
Item 54 of 2391766House, no 16 (later 18) Hanover Square  LondonEnglandLibrary added
Item 55 of 2391766Lowther VillageLowther WestmorlandEnglandPlans for village drawn up.
Item 56 of 2391766Strawberry HillTwickenham MiddlesexEnglandGothic ceiling and chimneypiece in Round Drawing Room.
Item 57 of 2391766Town House, 23 (now 31) Hill Street  LondonEnglandAlterations to interior
Item 58 of 2391766Wimbledon  SurreyEnglandInterior decoration designed and probably executed.
Item 59 of 239c. 1766Flatt Hall  CumberlandEnglandEnlargement and remodelling.
Item 60 of 2391767Burghley House  NorthamptonshireEnglandCeiling of North Hall
Item 61 of 2391767Halswell Park  SomersetEnglandInterior decoration of of Ionic temple.
Item 62 of 2391767Kenwood HouseHampstead LondonEnglandRemodelling of house and addition of library and portico
Item 63 of 2391767Luton Hoo  BedfordshireEnglandLeft incomplete in 1774. Probably also designed stables.
Item 64 of 2391767Newby Hall  YorkshireEnglandRemodelling on interior of south wing (containing sculpture gallery).
Item 65 of 2391767The Shire and Town HallHertford HertfordshireEngland 
Item 66 of 239c. 1767The Great house, Leyton  EssexEnglandRemodelling of principal rooms
Item 67 of 2391768Green Park, Duty Ranger's office  LondonEngland 
Item 68 of 2391768House, Mansfield Street and Duchess Street  LondonEngland 
Item 69 of 2391768House, no 10 Hertford Street  LondonEnglandInteriors
Item 70 of 2391768Saltram House  DevonEnglandRedecoration of saloon and library
Item 71 of 2391768The Adelphi Buildings  LondonEngland 
Item 72 of 239After 1768Castle Upton, mausoleum in memory of Hon. Arthur Upton (d.1768)  Co. AntrimNorthern Ireland 
Item 73 of 2391769Chandos House  LondonEngland 
Item 74 of 2391769Gunton ChurchGunton NorfolkEnglandFaculty 1766
Item 75 of 2391769House no 79 Piccadilly (no 1 Stratton Street)  LondonEnglandCeiling
Item 76 of 2391769House, no 15 Berkeley Square  LondonEnglandCeiling
Item 77 of 2391769House, no 25 (later 28) Grosvenor Square  LondonEngland'Probably' designed interior decoration
Item 78 of 239After 1769Romsey Abbey Church, tablet to Lady Palmerston (d.1769)  HampshireEngland 
Item 79 of 2391770Castle HouseCalne WiltshireEnglandRebuilding of garden front.
Item 80 of 2391770Hitchin Priory  HertfordshireEnglandDesigns drawn up for remodelling old house and for new house on different site - neither was executed. However new south front based on the designs of the Adam brothers.
Item 81 of 2391770House, no 29 Sackville Street  LondonEnglandCeiling in drawing room
Item 82 of 2391770House, no 33 St James Square  LondonEngland 
Item 83 of 2391770Northumberland House  LondonEnglandInterior decorations includinbg the Glass Drawing Room
Item 84 of 2391770Pulteney BridgeBath SomersetEngland 
Item 85 of 2391770Royal College of Physicians  EdinburghScotland 
Item 86 of 2391770Tusmore House  OxfordshireEnglandDrawing room and dining room ceilings
Item 87 of 239Between 1770 and Development of houses in Mansfield Street  LondonEnglandSpeculative development
Item 88 of 239c. 1770Alnwick Castle  NorthumberlandEnglandInterior decoration of keep in the Gothic style.
Item 89 of 239c. 1770British Coffee House  LondonEngland 
Item 90 of 239c. 1770Dipple HouseMosstodloch MorayshireScotlandChimneypieces designed by Adam for Northumberland House, in London. Moved to Kirkville from Syon House. Now at Dipple.
Item 91 of 239c. 1770Harrington House  LondonEnglandDesign for dressing room
Item 92 of 239c. 1770Kirkville HouseFochabers MorayshireScotlandOrioh=ginal marble slips from chimneypieces designed by Adam for Northumberland House, in London. Moved to Kirkville from Syon House. Now at Dipple. Only slips remain.
Item 93 of 239c. 1770Lowther VillageLowther WestmorlandEnglandPlan of model village executed.
Item 94 of 239c. 1770Mellerstain House  BerwickshireScotlandIncorporated wings by William Adam.
Item 95 of 2391771House, Mansfield Street and Duchess Street  LondonEnglandRebuilding
Item 96 of 2391771House, No 1 Whitehall  LondonEnglandRemodelled as Board Room for Paymaster-General and Commissioners of Chesea Hospital.
Item 97 of 2391771House, no 20 Soho Square  LondonEngland 
Item 98 of 2391771House, no 20 St James Square  LondonEngland 
Item 99 of 2391771House, no 30 Curzon Street  LondonEnglandInternal alterations
Item 100 of 2391771Kinross County BuildingsKinross? Kinross-shireScotlandArchitectural embellishment of south front
Item 101 of 2391771Stowe House  BuckinghamshireEnglandDesigns for rebuilding the south front - executed with modifications, 1772-1777
Item 102 of 2391771Wedderburn CastleDuns BerwickshireScotland 
Item 103 of 2391772Audley End  EssexEnglandTemple of Victory on Ring Hill
Item 104 of 2391772Foxley  HerefordshireEnglandInternal alterations
Item 105 of 2391772Headfort House  Co. MeathEireInteriors
Item 106 of 2391772Royal Society of Arts  LondonEngland 
Item 107 of 239c. 1772Apsley House  LondonEngland 
Item 108 of 2391773Alnwick Bridge  NorthumberlandEngland 
Item 109 of 2391773Ancaster HouseRichmond SurreyEnglandDesigned house as built.
Item 110 of 2391773Ashburnham House  LondonEnglandAlterations including entrance gates and lodge
Item 111 of 2391773Caldwell HouseUplawmoor RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 112 of 2391773Derby House  LondonEnglandRemodelled interior
Item 113 of 2391773House, no 10 Bloomsbury Street  LondonEnglandCeiling
Item 114 of 2391773House, no 9 Charlotte Street  LondonEnglandCeilings etc
Item 115 of 2391773Letterfourie House  BanffshireScotlandHouse and probably double-decker Craigmin Bridge
Item 116 of 2391773St Edmund's HillBury St Edmunds SuffolkEngland 
Item 117 of 2391773Syon HouseIsleworth MiddlesexEnglandDesigned entrance screen
Item 118 of 239c. 1773Ray HouseWoodford EssexEngland 
Item 119 of 2391774Ardencaple HouseHelensburgh DunbartonshireScotlandCastellated addition
Item 120 of 2391774Assemly RoomsDerby DerbyshireEnglandMay have desoigned interior - evidence inconclusive (Colvin)
Item 121 of 2391774Home House  LondonEnglandInteriors
Item 122 of 2391774House, no 11 St James's Square  LondonEnglandRefronted and some redecoration
Item 123 of 2391774Register House  EdinburghScotland 
Item 124 of 2391774The OaksCarshalton SurreyEnglandTemporary garden pavilion for fete-champetre held on 9 June 1774.
Item 125 of 239After 1774Worcester Cathedral, monument to Bishop James Johnson (d.1774)  WorcesterEngland 
Item 126 of 2391775Bellvue  EdinburghScotland 
Item 127 of 2391775Drury Lane Theatre  LondonEnglandAltered and re-fronted
Item 128 of 2391775Hampton  MiddlesexEnglandAlterations to villa, probably including the remodelling of the portico.
Item 129 of 2391775Kelburn Castle grounds including monument to 3rd Earl of Glasgow (d. 1775)Kelburn AyrshireScotlandMonument to 3rd Earl
Item 130 of 2391775Milton Abbey Church, table tomb to Lady Milton  DorsetEngland 
Item 131 of 2391775Moccas Court  HertfordshireEnglandDraw up plans for house. Executed not by the Adams but by A Keck.
Item 132 of 2391775Square of houses, Frederick's Place  LondonEngland 
Item 133 of 2391775The ElmsEpsom SurreyEnglandAdditions and alterations
Item 134 of 2391775Theatre and Market CrossBury St Edmunds SuffolkEngland 
Item 135 of 239c. 1775Combe BankSundridge KentEnglandAddition of two wings with domed pavilions. One built at this time, the other later.
Item 136 of 239c. 1775Woolton Hall  LancashireEngland'Greatly enlarged'
Item 137 of 2391776Bolton House  LondonEnglandInterior decoration
Item 138 of 2391776Chelsea Hospital  LondonEnglandRedecoration of Council Chamber and other minor works
Item 139 of 2391776Culzean Castle  AyrshireScotlandColvin gives 1777-1792
Item 140 of 2391776Elderslie House  GlasgowScotlandMade designs but as built the pilasters and wings were demolished.
Item 141 of 2391776Hendon PlaceHendon MiddlesexEnglandNew front
Item 142 of 2391776House, no 15 Berkeley Square  LondonEnglandCeiling
Item 143 of 2391776Knowsley  LancashireEnglandDairy
Item 144 of 2391776Mistley ChurchMistley EssexEnglandRemodelling
Item 145 of 2391776Nostell Priory  YorkshireEnglandNew wings begun but work suspended. Finally completed in 1875.
Item 146 of 2391776Red Lion InnPontefract YorkshireEnglandRemodelled
Item 147 of 2391776Roxburghe House  LondonEnglandRemodelling
Item 148 of 2391776Street of 68 houses, Portland Place  LondonEngland 
Item 149 of 2391776Wenvoe Castle  GlamorganWalesCastle style house. Plans carried out with some modifications.
Item 150 of 2391777Drummond's BankCharing Cross LondonEnglandAlterations
Item 151 of 2391777Hulne Park, Brizlee TowerAlnwick NorthumberlandEngland 
Item 152 of 2391777Langside House  GlasgowScotland 
Item 153 of 2391777Mamhead  DevonEnglandEnlarged ('probably')
Item 154 of 2391777Parish ChurchKirkoswald AyrshireScotlandPerhaps more likely design by Hugh Cairncross, his clerk of works
Item 155 of 2391777Wormleybury  HertfordshireEnglandInterior decoration
Item 156 of 239c. 1777The OaksCarshalton SurreyEnglandCastellated additions to house - begun but never completed.
Item 157 of 2391778Auchincruive Tea House  AyrshireScotland 
Item 158 of 2391778Botanic Gardens, memorial urn to Carl Linnaeus  EdinburghScotland 
Item 159 of 2391778House, no 10 New Burlington Street  LondonEnglandRemodelling of interior
Item 160 of 2391778Langside  RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 161 of 2391778Old Calton Burying Ground, Monument to David Hume (d.1776)  EdinburghScotland 
Item 162 of 2391778Weald Hall  EssexScotlandDecoration of dining room
Item 163 of 2391779Croome Court  WorcestershireEnglandEntrance arch
Item 164 of 2391779House, Great Russell StreetBloomsbury LondonEnglandLibrary
Item 165 of 2391779Town House, 31 Hill Street  LondonEnglandDrawing rooms
Item 166 of 2391780Byram Hall  YorkshireEnglandDecoration of library etc
Item 167 of 2391780Column in memory of the 3rd Duke of Queensberry (d.1778)Dumfries DumfriesshireScotland 
Item 168 of 2391780Oxenfoord Castle  MidlothianScotlandRemodelling
Item 169 of 2391780York House  LondonEngland 
Item 170 of 239c. 1780Cullen House and estate buildingsCullen BanffshireScotlandWas commissioned to produce designs for new house - not executed
Item 171 of 239c. 1780Mistley Hall with Swan Fountain and nearby cottages  EssexEnglandAlterations
Item 172 of 2391781Croome Court  WorcestershireEnglandMenagerie (now house)
Item 173 of 2391781House, 21 Hanover Square  LondonEnglandInternal alterations and additions of balconies
Item 174 of 2391781Moccas Court  HertfordshireEnglandCeiling etc of circular drawing room
Item 175 of 239After 1781St Michael's Graveyard, monument to Hugh Lawson (d.1781)Dumfries DumfriesshireScotlandProbably
Item 176 of 2391782Audley End  EssexEnglandPalladian bridge and tea-house
Item 177 of 2391782Dalquharran Castle  AyrshireScotlandColvin gives 1789-90
Item 178 of 2391782Jerviston HouseMotherwell LanarkshireScotland 
Item 179 of 239After 1782Heston Church, monument to Robert Child (d. 1782)Heston MiddlesexEngland 
Item 180 of 2391783Castle Upton  Co. AntrimNorthern IrelandAlterations
Item 181 of 2391784Brasted Place  KentEngland 
Item 182 of 2391785Ashburnham Place  SussexEnglandEntrance lodges
Item 183 of 2391785Culzean Castle Estate, Fountain Court, walls, orangery and shelter  AyrshireScotlandIncorporates earlier structures. Terrace walls
Item 184 of 2391785Culzean Castle, stablecourt  AyrshireScotlandMain stable block - incorporating earlier structures and with later reconstructions. Gazebo rebuilt.
Item 185 of 2391785Sunnyside HouseLiberton EdinburghScotland 
Item 186 of 239c. 1785Culzean Castle, ruined arch and viaduct  AyrshireScotland 
Item 187 of 239c. 1785Houses on South Bridge and Hunter Square  EdinburghScotlandScheme drawn up but not executed. Kay's scheme used instead.
Item 188 of 2391786Marlborough HouseBrighton SussexEnglandRemodelling
Item 189 of 239c. 1786Culzean Castle, walled garden  AyrshireScotlandPossibly responsible for design?
Item 190 of 2391787Culzean Estate, home farmCulzean AyrshireScotland 
Item 191 of 2391787Glasserton House  WigtownshireScotland 
Item 192 of 2391787Kirkdale HouseCarsluith KirkcudbrightshireScotlandOriginal house by Robert Adam. Bridge designed by Adam and also probably the octagonal farmstead.
Item 193 of 2391787MilburnEsher SurreyEngland 
Item 194 of 239c. 1787House, 1 (now 2) Harley Street  LondonEnglandAlterations
Item 195 of 2391788BarholmCreetown (near) KirkcudbrighthsireScotland 
Item 196 of 2391788Castle Upton  Co. AntrimNorthern IrelandFurther alterations and castellated stables.
Item 197 of 2391789Balmakewan House  AberdeenshireScotlandDrew up design - not executed.
Item 198 of 2391789Buscombe HouseHare Hatch BerkshireEnglandProbably remodelling
Item 199 of 2391789NewlistonKirkliston West LothianScotland 
Item 200 of 2391789Tulloch Castle, Caisteal GorachDingwall Ross and CromartyScotland 
Item 201 of 2391789University of Edinburgh, Old College  EdinburghScotlandInitial designs
Item 202 of 2391789Yester HouseGifford East LothianScotlandRemodelling of centre of north front
Item 203 of 239c. 1789WyresideGarstang (near) LancashireEnglandAlterations and additions including portico.
Item 204 of 2391790s(?)Culzean Castle Estate, Courtyard    May have drawn designs
Item 205 of 2391790Airthrey CastleBridge of Allan StirlingshireScotland 
Item 206 of 2391790Alva Churchyard, Johnstone Family Mausoleum, Monument to John Johnstone     
Item 207 of 2391790Archerfield  East LothianScotlandRemodelling of interior
Item 208 of 2391790Balavil HouseKingussie Inverness-shireScotland 
Item 209 of 2391790ChampfleurieKingscavil, Linlithgow  ScotlandDesigned plan for house. Bears no relation to present house which is a late 19th century tower-house, L-plan, beef-red sandstone.
Item 210 of 2391790Cluny CastleCluny AberdeenshireScotlandProposals for duplicating 17th century house
Item 211 of 2391790Dunbar Castle  East LothianScotland 
Item 212 of 2391790Glencarse House  PerthshireScotland 
Item 213 of 2391790Houses, Fitzroy Square  LondonEngland 
Item 214 of 2391790Seton House  East LothianScotland'Scottish Buildings' dates as 1789.
Item 215 of 2391790Tulloch CastleDingwall Ross and CromartyScotlandCastellated folly called Caisteal Gorach.
Item 216 of 2391790Westerkirk Churchyard, Johnstone family mausoleum for Sir James JohnstoneWesterkirk DumfriesshireScotland 
Item 217 of 239c. 1790Fullarton House, piers terminating forecourt walls and stables  AyrshireScotlandCastellated stables and farm buildings. Also possibly gatepiers (Close & Rich).
Item 218 of 239c. 1790(?)Udny HouseTeddington MiddlesexEnglandProbably added picture gallery about this date.
Item 219 of 239179146 Charlotte Square  EdinburghScotland 
Item 220 of 2391791Charlotte Square  EdinburghScotlandDesigns drawn up. Executed with modifications, especially to east and west sides, 1792-1820.
Item 221 of 2391791Gosford House  East LothianScotlandBuildings of Scotland puts start date at 1790. Also notes stables said to be done by Adam c. 1790
Item 222 of 2391791House, Miller Street for John Alston  GlasgowScotlandResponsible for design of house
Item 223 of 2391791Ladies Caledonian Club, Charlotte Square  EdinburghScotland 
Item 224 of 2391791Linthouse  GlasgowScotland 
Item 225 of 2391791The Bridewell PrisonCalton Hill EdinburghScotland 
Item 226 of 2391791Trades House  GlasgowScotland 
Item 227 of 2391791Walkinshaw HousePaisley (near) RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 228 of 2391792Dalkeith House  MidlothianScotlandBridge over River Esk in grounds (Montagu Bridge)
Item 229 of 2391792Mauldslie CastleCarluke LanarkshireScotland 
Item 230 of 2391792Royal Infirmary  GlasgowScotland 
Item 231 of 2391792St George's Episcopal Church and Manse  EdinburghScotland 
Item 232 of 2391792Stobs CastleCavers RoxburghshireScotland 
Item 233 of 23917931-11 Charlotte Square  EdinburghScotland 
Item 234 of 2391793Balbardie HouseBathgate West LothianScotland 
Item 235 of 2391793College Houses, High Street  GlasgowScotland 
Item 236 of 2391794Dalkeith House  MidlothianScotlandEntrance gates from Dalkeith
Item 237 of 239c. 1794Barnton Castle  MidlothianScotlandRemodelling
Item 238 of 2391795Parish ChurchLasswade MidlothianScotland 
Item 239 of 239c. 179632 Charlotte Square  EdinburghScotland24-32 Charlotte Square

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 2Colvin, Howard2008A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 London: YUP. 4th edition 
Item 2 of 2New DNB New Dictionary of National Biography  Article by A A Tait.

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1Builder27 October 1961  'Architectural Historians' Conference: Papers Submitted to the Edinburgh Meeting' p787 - Colin McWilliam delivered a paper entitled 'Robert Adam in Scotland' to the SAH (UK) in Edinburgh on 15-17 Sept 1961