| ADA | ADA |
adaptation of material. Among the chief were the Jews' Synagogue, near the Haymarket, the County Fire Office, and the Westminster Bridewell. He died Dec. 11, 1850, aged 77.
ADAM, William, architect. Held the appointment of king's mason at Edinburgh, where he practised his profession with much repute. Hopetoun House and the Royal Infirmary in that city are examples of his ability, as also the New Library and University at Glasgow. He died June 24, 1748. The three Adams of the Adelphi were his sons.
ADAM. Robert, architect. Born 1728, at Kirkaldy, Fifeshire. Son of the above William Adam. He was educated at the Edinburgh University, and formed friendships with several men who became distinguished. In the study of his art he visited Italy about 1754. He took with him Clérisseau, a clever draftsman, and remained some time. On his return he soon rose to professional eminence, and in 1762 was appointed architect to the king, but resigned that office to become candidate for Kinrosshire, for which county he was elected representative in 1768. At this time, in conjunction with his brother James, he commenced the great work on the shores of the Thames with which his name is associated. His plans were unsuccessfully opposed by the Corporation of London, as an encroachment upon their privileges. He raised the shore by a succession of arches, and on them erected three fine streets and a terrace fronting the Thames, naming this work, in memory of himself and his two brothers, the 'Adelphi.' It was not, however, successful as a speculation, and in 1774, under the sanction of an Act of Parliament, he disposed of the whole by lottery. Among his works may be named—The façade of the Admiralty, Whitehall; Lansdowne House, Berkeley Square; Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire; Caen Wood House, near Hampstead; Osterley House, near Brentford; Kidleston, Derbyshire; Compton Verney, Warwickshire; and the General Register House, Edinburgh. He was largely employed in the alteration of many fine mansions, and showed great ability in the arrangement and decoration of interiors, displaying a pleasing variety in the form and proportion of his apartments, and a comfort and elegance not studied by his predecessors. He also designed ornamental furniture. His style was original—in taste approaching prettiness, but was highly popular in his day, and has left a character which is still known as his. He painted many good landscape compositions in water-colours. He published a work on the Ruins of Diocletian's Palace, 1764, and, with his brother James, commenced in 1773 'The Works in Architecture of R. and J. Adam.' He was F.R.S. and F.S.A. He died, from the bursting of a blood-vessel, at his house in Albemarle Street, March 3, 1792, and was buried in the south aisle of Westminster Abbey. His journal of his tour in Italy, 1760-61, was published in the Library of the Fine Arts.
ADAM, James, architect. Younger brother of the preceding, and connected with him in most of his works. He held the office of architect to the king, and was himself the architect of the spacious range of buildings named Portland Place. He published a treatise on architecture, and was engaged upon a history of architecture which he did not live to finish. He died, in Albemarle Street, of an apoplectic attack, October 20, 1794.
ADAM, John, engraver. He practised in London towards the end of the 18th Century, and engraved in the chalk manner portraits for periodical works. The portraits in Caulfield's 'History of Remarkable Characters' are engraved by him, but possess little merit. There are also by him portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Dudley, Earl of Leicester, after drawings by Zucchero.
ADAMS, Robert, architect. Born in London, 1540. Was surveyor to the Board of Works and architect to Queen Elizabeth. A large plan of Middleburgh by him is extant, dated 1588; also a pen-and-ink drawing, styled 'Tamesis descriptio,' showing how the river may be defended by artillery from Tilbury to London, with representations of several actions while the Spanish Armada was off the British coast. These latter were engraved, and Walpole assumes that they were engraved by him, and styles him an engraver. Dallaway says they were engraved by Augustine Ryther, of which there seems little doubt. He translated from the Italian into Latin Ubaldini's account of the defeat of the Spanish Armada. He died in 1595, and was buried in Greenwich Church, where a tablet describes him as 'Operum regiorum supervisori, architecturæ peritissimo.'
ADAMS, Bernard, architect. Practised in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when his name often appears, but of his works no particulars are recorded.
ADAMS, Francis E., engraver. He received a premium from the Society of Arts in 1760. Produced some portraits in mezzotint about 1774, but did not attain any excellence in his art. A satirical print of a young girl, dressed quite à la mode,' whose mother does not know her (1773), is well drawn and tolerably finished.
ADAMS, Frances Matilda, flower painter. Was water-colour painter extraordinary to Queen Adelaide, and exhibited at the Royal Academy for several years
2
