The Adam Collection

Robert Adam is rightly credited with the popularisation of the style that is known as Neo-classical and which defined the later Georgian period. Returning to England from Italy in 1758 he introduced a style of architecture and interior decoration based on design ideas from ancient Greece and Rome, interpreting and applying this classicism in a light and playful manner.

Sir John Soane, himself an architectural visionary, described Adam’s work as a “revolution in art” and it unquestionably influenced every aspect of interior decoration during the late 18th century. Adam devoted much time to applying this new form to the design of fireplaces, recognising, like all great architects, that a successfully executed fireplace is the key to the balance and symmetry of a room.