The Adamesque Style
 

    The Adam style takes its name from two brothers, Robert and James Adam, professional architects who, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, ushered in and secured a place for Neo-Classical architecture in Britain. The two would eventually run one of the most successful architectural firms in England, designing homes for the wealthy aristocracy. It was, however, the ideology, the experiences, and genius of Robert Adam that truly influences and gives shape to the movement, or revolution, as it is sometimes described.

    Robert Adam was born in 1728, the second son of William Adam, one of the most prominent architects in Scotland of his day. At the age of twenty-six he left Scotland for France, where he met the esteemed architect C.L. Clérisseau, and toured the country from Paris to Nîmes. The next year, 1755, he entered Italy and by 1756, he had made his way to Rome. He traveled as a gentleman, but his interests, were, no doubt, professional. In 1757, for example, he journeyed to Spalato to study the ruins of Diocletian’s palace, a subject on which he published the Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro[sic] in Dalmatia. By the time Adam had returned to England in 1758, he had already gained the experience which would help to make him one of England’s leading architects.

    From his study abroad Adam learned a number of things about the architecture of antiquity. He concluded, through his first hand observation, that classical architecture was not nearly as rigid as had been presupposed. Students of Palladio, and, indirectly, Vitruvius, regarded the layout of a building similar to the result of a mathematical equation, constrained by laws and grounded in truth. Proportions were rigidly outlined in Palladian handbooks, and the classical architecture of his school of thought left no room for interpretation. All of this thinking was to change in the age of Adam. Perhaps the most significant contributions made during that period were the archaeological studies done at classical sites throughout the former Roman Empire. These studies came at a time when historians had defined a clear historic view of antiquity—the classical era as distinct from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The previous belief saw one long tradition, stretching from the present day back to the ancients, with a brief deviation in the so called Dark Ages. The result of these archaeological findings and the subsequent affect it would have on architecture can be summed up in three points:

    1. The concept of art through archeology. With history no longer an unbroken string of events from the present to the Classical world, with an unfortunate divergence through the Middle Ages, it was possible to examine the ancient world as a separate era. Therefore it became conceivable for man to enrich the present by looking to the past, rather than seeing the present as an inheritance of the past.
    2. The concept of eclecticism. With a greater understanding of classical architecture it was possible to choose between styles or to combine elements from multiple styles.
    3. The concept of a modern style. As a result of the second concept, a truly modern style could be created from the imaginations of present architects.
Out of the storm of these new ideas, the Adamesque style was born. It was a style which interpreted the Roman architecture of antiquity, rather than slavishly copied it. It gave a new outlook to the architectural inheritance of antiquity, and fit it into the era in which Adam lived. The essence of this style is best illustrated through, for example, Adam’s attitude towards a traditonal Classical decorative element—the ionic order. To a follower of Palladio, there were strict guidelines which surrounded the appearance of such an element, like a pattern for a piece of clothing. To Adam, such an element had to be transcribed and abstracted to fit the occasion for which it was to be used. This notion is the defining element of Adam’s style. It is rooted in the realization that the Romans did not confine themselves to certain types of decorative units, but enjoyed the ability to consider style, feeling, and taste; there was a  certain freedom in their art which was unlimited. His exteriors were still symmetrically Roman, conforming to the taste of the day. The genius of Adam was not to be seen on the outside (Fig. 1), but on the inside (Fig. 2)
 
Slide Gallery: 
Click to Enlarge		 Fig.1  Robert Adam; Society of Arts Bldg. London Fig.2  Robert Adam; Derby House; London, England;1773-34
The Adam style is largely decorative in nature, and it is the interiors of the structures he designed which constitute the expression of his architectural ideals.

     Luton Hoo (1766-1770), the Derby House (1773-1774), and the estate he designed for his brother James Adam (circa. 1780) illustrate this new interior style. The floorplan (Fig, 3) of Luton Hoo demonstrates the originality of the use of interior space employed by Adam. The rigid symmetry of Palladio and Inigo Jones is gone and in its place is a style which fits the space to need. Notice the difference in the utilization of space in the wings of the house--on one side there is great library which is the entire wing, and opposite it, the wing is divided into five distinct units for separate purposes. Also of note is the use of the curved line as a structural element, as is evident through the oval rooms and bowed walls.
 
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Fig.3  Robert Adam; 
Luton Hoo floorplan
 
    The same origniality of interior space can be found in Adam's Derby House (fig. 4)  This house revolutionized the town house as it was previously known. It soon became the template for American urban architects who subscribed to the Adam school. The ingenious use of space and the grouping of the Library, Eating Room, Parlor, Ante-Room and Hall, while simultaneously giving each room a distinctive character, is representative of Adam. Much the same is the house Robert Adam designed for his brother, James where the great room to the right contains three bowed walls, a elegant and unique element, as well as the unusual shape of the rear room (fig. 5). What is most striking is the central passage-way from the front to the rear of the house in the shape of a circle. The front hall likewise has curious little oval wings.  The overall layout has the creative signature of its designer; no other contemporary architect could work with such fluidity.
 
 
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Click to Enlarge 		   
Fig.4  Robert Adam.   
Derby House, Floorplan		   
Fig.5 Robert Adam. John Adam House, Floorplan
The genius of Robert Adam sparked an architectural revolution in Britain in the years surrounding the Revolutionary War. It would do the same in the United States as the country moved towards forming an identity as a nation.