Stair Parts Fig. 195 Adelphi Terrace London
Of the brothers Adam (there were four of them), Robert was the most gifted, and it is his work which gave rise to the well-known " Adam " style in stair parts. He, too, had a training of several years in Italy (from 1754 to 1758), but, more adventurous than other students, he paid a visit of some weeks' duration to Spalato in Dalmatia, where he occupied himself, with the help of companions, in taking measurements and making drawings of Diocletian's palace. According to one authority' these studies were the foundation of his future style. Much of the furniture at Kedleston, however, is more nearly allied to the type established by Kent than to that which we are accustomed to associate with Adam; presumably he had not yet established his own individuality. In his architectural work he had a great idea of obtaining "movement " by giving rhythmical projections to a facade, and a picturesque but ordered variety to the skyline. This was his intention, and the adoption of the word is his own; it is doubtful whether observers and critics would have discovered enough of the one to have adopted the other of their own accord. Indeed the exteriors of his buildings are often tame. He broke away, it is true, from the conventions of the preceding half-century, but although the result was to a certain extent novel, it can hardly be deemed more attractive. The fact is that he laboured under the same drawback which beset all the architects of the eighteenth century, the glorification of architecture at the expense of practical building. Instead of making his architecture reflect the requirements of the persons who were to use the edifice, he made the interior arrangements to fit the preconceived exterior. This is exemplified in a small instance in the fact that, having designed two houses to form one architectural composition, he was obliged to make the party wall cut a window in two, a mutilated half of which lighted a room in each of two separate houses. We have already seen how the same sort of difficulty beset Wood's houses in Bath ; and exactly the same fault in regard to windows is to be found in Grainger's work at Newcastle. The absurdity is only fully realised when one of the houses has to be remodelled or rebuilt, when, among other odd results, it is found that a window has to be shorn in two, one half removed and the other left.
Stair Parts Fig. 196 Doorway in Mansfield Street London
Adam's excellence lies in his eye for proportion, in the refinement of his detail, and in the fastidious handling of his ornament in the design of stair parts. A house in St James's Square (Fig. 193) and another in Portland Place (Fig. 194) are characteristic examples of his work. At first sight they appear insipid, and might easily escape the eye ; but when the attention is once caught it is arrested by the detail which appeals to the cultivated taste ; the intellect is charmed with the extreme care bestowed upon every part of the interior of careful design of the stair part ornament, or rather, considering the enormous amount of work which occupied Adam's time, by the wonderful intuition which produced such harmonious results.
Stair Parts Fig. 197 Entrance and Porch at 20 Portman Square,London
He can hardly be said to have made a permanent mark in his large architectural conceptions. With the help of his brothers he rebuilt a whole district of London which was called after them, "the Adelphi." 1 The long terrace on an arcaded basement was much admired, and it has been claimed for him that he planted by the side of the Thames a worthy version of the splendours of Spalato, but the building (Fig. 195) hardly bears out this contention. It is Spalato much diluted. The lesson to be learnt from this as from most of the architecture of that period is that no reproduction of ancient glories, whether direct or modified, can be of abiding interest. Architecture to be interesting must meet certain definite wants, must reflect the needs of the hour and of the individual, and as these must of necessity be ever changing, so must architectural expression. Each work of every architect presents a fresh problem which ought to be solved in its own way.
Stair Parts Fig. 198 Window at Sutton Court