WILLIAM ADAM (ARCHITECT)

'William Adam' (1689–June 24, 1748) was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. Sometimes called Scotland's "Universal Architect", he was the foremost architect of his time in that country.^[1] Despite this, Adam's work has often been overlooked as it did not fit into the prevailing Palladian fashions of the day, and he is often overshadowed by his son Robert Adam.^[2]
Adam designed and built numerous country houses and public buildings, often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, and Duff House in Banff. His individual, exuberant style built on the Palladian style, but with Baroque details inspired by Vanbrugh and Continental architecture.
As well as being an architect, Adam was involved in several industrial ventures and improvement schemes, including coal mining, salt panning, stone quarries and mills. From 1731 he built up his own estate in Kinross-shire, which he named Blair Adam.
He was the father of three architects; John, Robert and James, the last two the developers of the "Adam style", who would go on to even greater fame in London.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Rise to fame

Architect, entrepreneur, and laird

Later life

Architectural works

Country houses

Public buildings

''Vitruvius Scoticus''

Family

References

See also

External links

Biography

Early life

William Adam was born in Linktown of Abbotshall, now a neighbourhood of Kirkcaldy, Fife, and was baptised on October 24, 1689. He was the only surviving child of John Adam (d. c. 1710), a mason and son of Archibald Adam, a laird in Angus. His mother was Helen Cranstoun, daughter of William Cranstoun, 3rd Lord Cranstoun.^[3] he probably attended the grammar school in Kirkcaldy until 1704, when he turned 15, and thereafter learned the craft of masonry, possibly from his father. It is often suggested that Adam was apprenticed to Sir William Bruce at Kinross House, although the dates mae this unlikely. John Fleming suggests that if Adam trained under Bruce at all, it must have been at Hopetoun House which Bruce was building from 1699-1703.^[4] He was a fully qualified member of the Kirkcaldy masons' guild by 1717.^[5] Also before 1720, he travelled to France and the Low countries, visiting country houses and viewing the canal at Ostend.
In 1714, Adam entered into a partnership with William Robertson of Gladney, a local laird, to set up a brickworks at Linktown. The venture was successful, and Adam has been credited with introducing the manufacture of Dutch pantiles into Scotland.^[6] On May 30, 1716, Adam married Robertson's daughter Mary, and the couple moved into his home, Gladney House, at Abbotshall.^[7]

The east front of Hopetoun House was designed and built by William Adam over a period of over 20 years.

Rise to fame

It is not known how William Adam became such an important and successful architect from these beginnings, but by 1721 he was engaged on major projects at Floors Castle, where he executed a design by Vanbrugh, and designing extensions to Hopetoun House. John Gifford links Adam's rise with the retirement of James Smith, the most prominent architect of the early 18th century, who was in his 70s by this time.^[8] Adam was a trained mason, had social connections through his family, and had the financial backing of his successful brickworks enterprise, all advantages that gave Smith his position.
However, unlike Smith or Sir William Bruce, Adam was a presbyterian Whig, and he subsequently acquired influential patrons such as John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, and Sir John Clerk of Penicuik.^[9] Besides being his clients, these political figures attempted to secure government positions and contracts for Adam.^[10] Sir John Clerk proposed Adam for city architect under the "Town of Edinburgh Bill", which would have seen him overseeing new public works.^[11] In 1727, Stair tried unsuccessfully to have Adam appointed Surveyor of the King's Works in Scotland, although the following year he acquired the lesser position of Clerk and Storekeeper of the King's Works in Scotland, under the Master of Works Sir John Anstruther.^[12] In 1730 he was appointed principal Mason to the Board of Ordnance in North Britain.

Colen Campbell's design for Wanstead Park, which differs slightly from the house Adam saw in 1727.

In 1727 Adam and Sir John Clerk travelled to London, visiting a number of country seats along the way, including Cliveden, Wilton, and Wanstead Park.^[13] In London, Adam attempted to make further political contacts, as well as seeking out an engraver for his projected book of architectural plans, which would eventually become ''Vitruvius Scoticus''. Also while in London, he sat to William Aikman for his portrait.^[14]

Architect, entrepreneur, and laird

By 1728 Adam was firmly established as a successful architect, with numerous ongoing business concerns including coal mining, salt panning, quarrying and agricultural improvements, although that year saw the death of his partner and father-in-law William Robertson.^[15] Also in that year William Adam and Alexander McGill are described as architects in the subscribers' list to James Gibbs's ''Book of Architecture''. On 21 February 1728 Adam was made a burgess of Edinburgh,^[16] and moved with his family to a property on the Cowgate, where he later built a large tenement.^[17]
His business activities continued to expand. Since the commission for Hopetoun in 1721 he had leased quarries near Queensferry, which provided the stone for his building contracts.^[18] From 1734 he leased lofts, granaries and warehouses in Leith, and leased coal mines and salt pans at Cockenzie, and later at nearby Pinkie, where he built a canal in 1742-44, to serve the mines.^[19] Other engineering works inlcuded a n aqueduct driven through a hill at Inveresk, and, in 1741, an attempt to promote a Forth and Clyde canal, a project eventually realised by others some 30 years later.^[20] His main concern from 1731 became Blair Crambeth, the estate in Kinross-shire, near Kelty, which he purchased that year for £8,010 Scots.^[20] Renaming the estate Blair Adam, he set about expanding and improving it, planting trees, enclosing land, and setting up coal mines. He established the village of Maryburgh to house the miners, and built a small house, although he seldom visited for any length of time.^[22]

Adam's later, realised designs for the south front (top) and north front of House of Dun, Angus.

Later life

In 1741 Adam was forced to initiate legal proceedings against William, Lord Braco, to retrieve unpaid fees arising from his work at Duff House. Adam sued for £5,796 12s 11⅓d, and the matter was initially resolved in his favour. However, Braco was a stubborn opponent, and dragged out the proceedings, which were not resolved until just before Adam's death.^[18]
After the Jacobite rising of 1745, Adam's position as Mason to the Board of Ordnance brought him a number of large military contracts in the Highlands. In 1746, the position of Master Carpenter to the Board of Ordnance became vacant, and Adam was quick to put forward his son John's name for consideration, although he was unsuccessful in securing him the post.^[24] His three eldest sons were all involved in the family business by 1746, James and John both leaving Edinburgh University early to join their father.
William Adam succumbed to illness in late 1747, dying the following summer. He was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, where John Adam designed the family mausoleum built in 1753.

Architectural works

Hamilton Old Parish Church, designed by Adam in 1735.

Adam used a wide variety of sources for his designs, often reminiscent of Continental Baroque, and created an inventive personal style of decoration.^[13] He drew little from his Scots predecessors Bruce and Smith.^[26] Rather, his most important influences were the works of John Vanbrugh and James Gibbs, whose ''Book of Architecture'' Adam subcribed to and used as inspiration throughout his career.^[27] Several of Adam's houses have been likened to the highly fashionable Palladian designs reproduced in Colen Campbell's ''Vitruvius Britannicus'', although the details owe more to Gibbs and Vanbrugh.^[28] His early, unexecuted design for Dun House is interesting, as it appears to show a traditional tall Scottish tower house, complete with spiral stairs within the walls, but externally clad in neo-classical detailing; Adam clearly took some inspiration from the Scottish vernacular.^[29]
During his nearly 30-year career as an architect, Adam designed, extended or remodelled over 40 country houses, and undertook numerous public contracts.^[30] He also laid out landscape garden schemes, for instance at Newliston and Taymouth Castle.

Country houses

His first commission seems to have been for extensions to Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh, for Charles Hope, 1st Earl of Hopetoun.^[31] Hopetoun had been built only 20 years before by Sir William Bruce, and Adam was retained to rebuild the south-east wing. These works, completed in 1725, aimed to give the east front a bold new facade, stepping forward at the ends with curved sections. According to John Fleming, "nothing so ambitious or imaginative had ever before been attempted in Scotland".^[32] Over the following years, Adam would return to Hopetoun, building the south colonnade from 1726, the north wing from 1728, and finally the pavilions from 1736. These were not finished until 1742, the year of the Earl's death, and the completed scheme was finished by Adam's sons after his own death.^[33] Adam also laid out the gardens, possibly to designs by Bruce, whose axial style they follow.^[34]

Craigdarroch in Dumfriesshire, a small house designed by Adam in 1729, for Alexander Fergusson.

Other early designs included Drum House, which boasted Scotland's first venetian window,^[35] and Mavisbank, both near Edinburgh. Mavisbank was a collaboration between Adam and the owner, amateur architect Sir John Clerk of Penicuik. The latter claimed much of the credit, and certainly criticized some of Adam's suggestions, although evidence suggests Adam got his way on a number of points.^[36] As at Hopetoun, here Adam enjoyed an unusually close relationship with his clent, despite their differences of opinion.^[37] His most ambitious early work was the baroque, Vanbrugh-inspired house at Arniston, near Gorebridge. Built for Robert Dundas, a lawyer and politician linked to the Earl of Stair, Arniston includes extensive grounds laid out by Adam, with a parterre and cascade, and a main avenue centred on Arthur's Seat to the north.^[36] The stucco work to the hall at Arniston is one of Adam's finest Vanbrughian essays.^[39]

Chatelherault, the Duke of Hamilton's hunting lodge, (1731-43).

Adam's houses of the 1730s include House of Dun in Angus, Tinwald in Dumfriesshire, Lawers House in Perthshire, and Haddo House in Aberdeenshire. Chatelherault, the Duke of Hamilton's "Dogg Kennel" and hunting lodge near Hamilton, was completed in 1743. His redecoration of the Duke's apartment in Holyroodhouse was Adam's most important interior design commission.^[40] In 1742 Adam extended Taymouth Castle and laid out gardens, although his work was demolished to make way for the present building in the 19th century. His largest commission of the decade was for Duff House in Banff, built between 1735 and 1739, with Adam acting as contractor and architect to William, Lord Braco. As at Hopetoun, he succeeded a famous architect, this time James Gibbs himself, who had recently built another house for Lord Braco.^[41]
After 1740, Adam built only two houses, at Cumbernauld for the Earl of Wigton, and Cally House for Alexander Murray, which was not complete until 1763.^[42] From 1746, Adam was acting as "Intendant General" and contractor, overseeing the building of Inveraray Castle to a Gothic design by Roger Morris. His role was to correspond with the architect on behalf of the client, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, and Adam also offered Morris his own advice on detail design.^[43] He also provided an early draft for the layout of the new town at Inveraray.^[44] His last architectural work was for Lord Lovat in 1744, for a new house at Castle Dounie. The stone was supplied, but construction never started as Lord Lovat was "out" in the 'Forty-five rising, and his property was sacked by government troops.^[45]

Public buildings

William Adam's Tay Bridge at Aberfeldy.

Adam's first public building commissions were in Aberdeen, where he built the town house from 1729-30 (since demolished), and Robert Gordon's Hospital from 1730-32, now an independent school. The original Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on Infirmary Street was an imposing building built by William Adam in 1738, although based on a standard Ordnance Board barrack block.^[46] One of the first infirmaries in the world, it was founded by physician Alexander Monro, and was partly demolished in 1884. Also in Edinburgh, Adam built George Watson's Hospital from 1738-41, which in the 19th century was rebuilt by David Bryce to serve as the new Royal Infirmary. In 1745, work was completed on William Adam's "New Library" for the University of Glasgow (demolished). Adam's townhouse for Dundee has also been demolished, although that of Haddington remains. Adam built only one church, Hamilton Old Parish Church, in 1733 while working on nearby Chatelherault.
After the Jacobite rising of 1745, Adam's Ordnance Board work multiplied, and he and his sons carried out works at Fort Augustus, Fort William, Carlisle, and the castles of Dumbarton, Stirling, Edinburgh, Blackness, and Duart.^[47] He was engaged in 1747 to provide the mason work and brickwork for Fort George near Inverness, although the project only began shortly before Adam's death.^[48] Every summer until 1760, one of his sons spent the summer at Fort George, supervising the works under Col. Skinner, the chief engineer for North Britain.

Robert Gordon's Hospital, Aberdeen, now Robert Gordon's College.

''Vitruvius Scoticus''

From the 1720s Adam planned to publish a book of architectural drawings of Scottish houses, including his own work and that of others. His ''Vitruvius Scoticus'' was initiated and named in response to Colen Campbell's ''Vitruvius Britannicus''. He had some engravings carried out during his 1727 trip to London, and had begun to collect subscriptions.^[10] Further engraving were done in Edinburgh in the 1730s by Richard Cooper.^[18] The project then stalled, possibly due to the lack of subscriptions (only 150 were collected, compared to over 700 for ''Vitruvius Britannicus''), although it may have been revived around the time of Adam's death. In 1766 John Adam attempted to restart the project and collect fresh subscriptions, although nothing came of this. The book was finally published in 1812 by John's son William, and contained 160 plates, including 100 of Adam's own designs.

Family

William Adam and Mary Robertson had ten surviving children:

★ Janet ("Jenny") (b. 1717), born at Linktown, later managed their brother Robert's London business.

★ John (b. 3 July 1721), born at Linktown, took over Blair Adam and the other family businesses, as well as practising architecture.

★ Robert (b. 3 July 1728), born at Linktown, architect, and best known of the Adam brothers.

★ James, (b. 21 July 1732) architect, business partner of Robert.

★ William ("Willie") (b. 1738)

★ Elizabeth ("Betty"), with Janet, managed their brother Robert's London business.

★ Helen

★ Margaret ("Peggy")

★ Mary, married John Drysdale, Minister of the Tron Kirk and at one time Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, though now chiefly remembered for his friendship with Adam Smith, the economist.

★ Susannah, married Sir John Clerk of Eldin, son of Sir John Clerk of Penicuik,
The birth dates of their five younger daughters are not recorded.^[51] In addition another son, named William, and two daughters died in infancy.^[16] The family are often characterised as close and loving.
After William Adam's death, John inherited the family business, and immediately took his brothers Robert and James into partnership, which would last until the late 1750s when Robert established himelf in London. William Adam's obituary in the ''Caledonian Mercury'' noted that "it is fortunate he has left behind him some promising young men to carry on what he has so happily begun".^[53]
John Adam passed Blair Adam on to his own son, lawyer and politician William Adam KC, whose descendants continue to own the estate, and have included several notable politicians, soldiers and civil servants.^[54]

References

1. John Clerk of Eldin first used the term "Universal Architect" to describe Adam, in his unpublished ''Life of Robert Adam''. Gifford (1990) p.1
2. Gifford quotes architectural historian John Summerson, who dismissed Adam's contribution to British architecture. Gifford (1990) p.1
3. Gifford, pp.68 & 75
4. Fleming, pp.6-7
5. Gifford, p.72
6. Gifford, pp.73-4
7. Gifford, p.75
8. Gifford, pp.76-77
9. Gifford, pp.80-81
10. Gifford, p.106
11. Fleming, p.34
12. Gifford, p.107
13. Friedman, p.37
14. Gifford, p.108
15. Gifford, pp.109-110
16. Gifford, p.110
17. Gifford, p.176
18. Gifford, p.179
19. Gifford, pp.176 & 178
20. Fleming, p.52
21. Fleming, p.52
22. Gifford, pp.176-178
23. Gifford, p.179
24. Gifford, p.183
25. Friedman, p.37
26. Fleming p.36
27. Friedman, p.38
28. Gifford, passim
29. Fleming p.35
30. Colvin, pp.56-59
31. The contract was signed on 17 January 1721. Gifford, p.76
32. Fleming, p.47
33. Gifford, pp.88, 124, 127
34. Gifford, p.89
35. Fleming, p.49
36. Gifford, pp.90-94
37. Fleming, p44
38. Gifford, pp.90-94
39. Fleming, p.51
40. Fleming, p.59
41. Fleming, p.53
42. Fleming, p.56
43. Fleming, p.65
44. Walker, pp.305 & 313
45. Fleming, pp.63-64
46. Fleming, p.62
47. Fleming, p.64
48. Gifford (1992), p.174
49. Gifford, p.106
50. Gifford, p.179
51. Gifford, p.183
52. Gifford, p.110
53. Cited in Fleming, p.66
54. "Adam, of Blair Adam", in ''Burke's Landed Gentry of Scotland'', pp.3-4


★ Colvin, Howard, (1978) ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840'', John Murray

★ Fleming, John (1962) ''Robert Adam and His Circle'', John Murray

★ Friedman, Terry (1990) "Mr Inigo Pilaster and Sir Christopher Cupolo: On the Advantages of Architectural Farrago", in ''Architectural Heritage I: William Adam'', Edinburgh University Press

★ Gifford, John (1989) ''William Adam 1689-1748'', Mainstream Publishing / RIAS

★ Gifford, John (1990) "William Adam and the Historians", in ''Architectural Heritage I: William Adam'', Edinburgh University Press

★ Gifford, John (1992) ''The Buildings of Scotland: Highlands and Islands'', Penguin

★ Rykwert, Jospeh, and Rykwert, Anne (1985) ''The Brothers Adam - The Men and the Style'', Collins, London, ISBN 0-00-217509-6

★ Walker, Frank Arneil (2000) ''The Buildings of Scotland'', Penguin

See also

★

External links

★ William Adam's grave site