282 ADAM'S INTERIOR WORK 



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 dis- 

 covered 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. 



Adam's excellence lies in his eye for proportion, in the 

 refinement of his detail, and in the fastidious handling of his 

 ornament. 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 ornament, 

 or rather, considering the enormous amount of work which 

 occupied Adam's time, by the wonderful intuition which pro- 

 duced such harmonious results. 



He can hardly be said to have made a permanent mark in 



