Place    From 1768  To 1935

Adelphi Terrace

Categories: Architecture

The Adam brothers built a very large development including a run of houses with a terrace that over-looked the river, which was much closer before the Embankment was built. It was this terrace that caused the word "terrace" to take on the meaning of a row of houses. Torn down in 1935 and replaced with the art deco New Adelphi building. It was the demolition of the Adelphi that was, at least partially, responsible for the creation of the Georgian Society in 1937.

The Rise and Fall of the Adelphi is a very useful page with excellent photos.

While thinking of how London has changed the English language, in the field of architecture at least, let's examine "Mews". From the French, it used to mean a place where hawks (kept for hunting) were confined during their moulting seasons. From 1377 the King's Mews was at Charing Cross, about where Trafalgar Square now is. In 1537 Henry VIII had it converted to be the royal stables. And hence Mews became the term for all service streets in London built as stables, converted into garages and then converted into rather chic homes for fashionable Londoners, such as John Steed.

The image on this page shows a plainer front elevation than that on the Garrick page. We have to assume that the Victorians added some decorative features, around the windows and the central attic pediment, for example.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Adelphi Terrace

Commemorated ati

Adam, Hood, Galsworthy, Barrie, etc.

We understand the "here" on the plaque to refer to the whole of Adelphi Terra...

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Lost Garrick plaque

David Garrick, actor, lived here. B: 1716. D: 1779. {Almost hidden in the dec...

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The Adelphi

The Adelphi This building stands on the site of Adelphi Terrace built by the...

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Other Subjects

William Edward Trent

William Edward Trent

Architect. Articled to Henry Poston. Later he specialised in cinema design.

Person, Architecture, Scotland

1 memorial
John Elger

John Elger

Architect, master builder and speculative developer. Active in London and Bedford.  From British History: "... a Bedford carpenter's son who had made his name in the 1820s and '30s as a speculative...

Person, Architecture, Property

1 memorial
James Burford

James Burford

Architect. Active in 1921.

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
John Murray Easton

John Murray Easton

Architect. Born in Edinburgh. Amongst his designs were: Aberconway House, Mayfair (1922), the Royal Horticultural Society's Lawrence Hall (1928); the British Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in Ne...

Person, Architecture, Scotland, USA

1 memorial
Frank Scarlett

Frank Scarlett

Modernist architect. We can find no information about him and no image, so for our picture we show the building which is considered his masterpiece: Starlock House, Rye. 2018: We were contacted by...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial