Monday, September 3, 2007

Adam Street, London


Nowadays people think of Robert Adam as above all else a master interior designer – pastel shades, plaster cameos, and elegant fireplaces were his forte. But his many country house projects show that he could design on a grander scale and he wanted to do so in London. So in 1768 he and his architect brothers leased a site between the Thames and the Strand, planning one of the biggest mixed developments the capital had seen. The project, known as the Adelphi (from the Greek for ‘brothers’, adelphoi), was made up of rows of houses, set above cellars with river access that were to be let for the storage of wine and coal.

It was a grand scheme, designed to high specifications, and the houses were decorated by the best artists of the time. But it proved expensive to build and the houses were slow to find tenants. The brothers finally got permission to run a lottery to finance the completion. Sadly, the Adelphi didn’t last. Many of the houses were altered in the 19th century, and more still demolished in the 20th. Now only a few houses remain, together with the impressive headquarters of the Royal Society of Arts. For many passers-by, the street names (John Adam Street, James Street, William Street) are the only reminder of the brothers’ project. This is one of the best surviving Adelphi houses, its white strips of decoration marking it out as an Adam building. It maintains its neoclassical dignity, in spite of being dwarfed by the office block behind.

3 comments:

Philip Wilkinson said...

That's bizarre. I'm Philip Wilkinson too and working in the Adam Street library right now as I read this!!

Philip Wilkinson said...

There are quite a few of us around - e.g. at least one other writer apart from me, an internet entrepreneur (the founder of Kelkoo), and a former high-ranking officer in the British army. An exclusive club, it seems...

Peter Ashley said...

I've only just found out what Adelphi means, thinking it was a Greek brand of toilet paper. But then someone told me that a terrace of cottages opposite one of the pubs I've drunk in for thirty years is called Adelphi Row, after their identical 'brotherly' appearance.