Adam Houses: From the Archives of "Country Life" [Hardcover]

Robert Adam is the only architect whose name appears in the "Oxford English Dictionary" to define a distinctive style, not only of architecture, but also of furniture and interior design. Given his pre-eminence it is not surprising that barely a year has passed since 1913 in which "Country Life" has not featured at least one article on Adam's work, and the magazine has accumulated an unrivalled archive of photographs of his buildings and their interiors. In this new book, Eileen Harris sets out to provide a pictorial survey of Adam's country and town houses arranged in chronological order to show the development of his genius, including designs for furniture and interior fittings as well as temples and estate buildings,. The book also illustrates the way in which the use and presentation of Adam's houses has changed over the course of the past one hundred years, making it a record of social change as well as architectural achievement. The country houses which are featured range from the works of the early 1760s, such as Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, Syon House in Middlesex and Audley End in Essex, through the masterpieces of his maturity, which include Osterley Park and Kenwood near London and Harewood House in Yorkshire, to the later designs of the 1770s and 80s, including Culzean Castle in Scotland and Headfort House in Ireland. The book also covers ten of his most important town houses and a variety of other buildings from Croome Church to Kedleston's Fishing Temple. No visual survey of Adam's work on this scale for the general reader has appeared for over thirty years and the superb quality of the photography and the reproduction make this book an unrivalled record of the most versatile and productive architect of the eighteenth century. This title is the latest addition to the sumptuous "Country Life" series. It covers the work of the man who was one of the greatest British architects and certainly the country's most famous interior designer. It is illustrated with the pick of "Country Life's" archive of photographs of Adam houses taken over the past ninety years. It is written by the foremost living authority on Adam's work.