MARCH 2018



Celebrating Georgian Architecture



If you have visited many of the finest stately homes throughout Britain, it is inevitable that you will be familiar with the name of the great Scottish architect Robert Adam.


Mellerstain is of course synonymous with Adam and in this article we look at the career of this remarkable Scotsman who had so much influence on Georgian architecture and art throughout Great Britain.


Georgian architecture is the name given to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. The term is eponymous with the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover, George I, George II, George III and George IV, who reigned in continuous succession from August 1714 until June 1830.


Under the Hanoverian kings, Great Britain was to witness a wholesale adoption of Classicism, an outward expression of admiration for the learning of Greece and Rome. It was also very fashionable for aristocrats and architects of the time to go off on a Grand Tour of Europe, viewing and often sketching Classical monuments.



Whilst the Georgian style of architecture is varied, Georgian buildings are typically characterised by their symmetry and regularity of detail, great houses and public buildings were often fronted with massive pediments and colonnades inspired by ancient Greek and Roman temples. Ornament is also in the classical tradition but it is typically restrained and sometimes almost completely absent on the exterior.

Georgian architecture is defined by its proportion and balance. Simple mathematical ratios were used to determine for example the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room such as a double cube. Regularity, such as uniformly cut stonework was strongly approved, imbuing symmetry and an adherence of classical rules.

The early Georgian period (1714 -1750) saw a revival of Palladianism. The great excesses of the Baroque period had created a distaste for over decoration and Andrea Palladio's Renaissance villas were admired because they reflected the pure lines of Classical architecture. There was also a political element to this change of taste as Baroque was associated with the Counter Reformation (the reform movement of the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th and early 17th centuries considered as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation) and the Hanoverian’s were a firmly Protestant dynasty. Late Georgian fashion was undoubtedly more flexible, within a symmetrical exterior, there might be Rococo interiors with delicate, flowing decoration.


A Georgian masterpiece
Robert Adam (1728–92) was undoubtedly one of the most important British architects working in the Neo-classical style. He would incorporate design ideas from ancient Greece and Rome into his forms and decoration, his famous London houses include Kenwood House, Osterley Park and Syon House.


Adam was to develop the concept of an integrated interior with walls, ceiling, carpet and furniture all designed as a single scheme. Refusing to be confined in the Palladian style, Adam borrowed Byzantine, Italian Baroque, Gothic revival and Etruscan motifs, as well as those of Ancient Greece and Rome. His brightly coloured interiors were covered in refined ornamentation. The Adam style was to prove to be highly influential.


Born in Kirkaldy, Robert Adam was the son of established architect William Adam, and followed him into the family practice. In 1754 he embarked on the aforementioned ‘Grand Tour’, spending five years in France and Italy visiting classical sites and studying architecture. When he returned he set up his business in London and started working as a practicing architect, it did not take him long to become the fashionable architect of the high society.


Although classical architecture was already becoming popular, Adam was to develop his own style, known as the Adam style or ‘Adamesque’. This style was influenced by classical design but did not follow Roman architectural rules as strictly as Palladianism did.


England at that time was undergoing a surge of interest in classical architecture, prompted by the Palladian movement, named after the Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, who tried to recreate the style and proportions of the buildings of ancient Rome. Adam built upon this momentum, but he was to create a style of his own that can be described as "neo-classical"; light, elegant lines unbound by strict classical proportion. In truth, Adam was something of a rebel against the Palladian’s, who insisted on following strict Roman lines and proportion. Instead Adam was to innovate and experiment, resulting in a body of work that approaches genius. Syon House is regarded by many as his greatest achievement and his first Public buildings success was the Admiralty Arch at Whitehall.


Adam was a success in part because he insisted on designing everything himself, down to the smallest detail. The result is work that has a sense of overall unity and flow. He moved beyond the Roman classical style, and borrowed heavily from Greek, Byzantine, and Italian Baroque influences.


Robert Adam died in 1792 at the age of 64. Some of his best surviving work can be seen at Syon House, Kedleston Hall, Harewood House, Osterly, Kenwood, Bowood, Croome Court, Mersham-le-Hatch, Newby Hall, Nostell Priory, Culzean Castle and of course Mellerstain House.


Mellerstain is famously celebrated as one of Robert Adam’s finest works and truly is one of the great houses of Scotland.


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