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.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

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...

Read More

Garrick plaque - gone

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

Read More

The Adelphi

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

Read More

Other Subjects

Frank Meisler

Frank Meisler

Architect and sculptor. Born Danzig. Arrived in England via the Kindertransport. Active in 2006. Art Forum obit. Born in what was then Danzig and is now Gdansk, Poland. Meisler was himself one of t...

Person, Architecture, Sculpture, Germany, Israel/Palestine, Poland

1 memorial
Cullinan Studio

Cullinan Studio

From their website: "Edward Cullinan Architects was established by Edward (Ted) Cullinan in 1965, who was an early proponent of sustainability and social awareness and a former colleague of Denys L...

Group, Architecture, Engineering

1 memorial
Sir Ebenezer Howard

Sir Ebenezer Howard

Founder of the garden city movement. Born 62 Fore Street. Travelled to America in 1871 where he tried farming and was in Chicago at the time that it was being rebuilt after a great fire. The new su...

Person, Architecture, Property, Social Welfare, USA

1 memorial
T. A. Greeves

T. A. Greeves

Architect and artist. Born Thomas Affleck Greeves. Studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture, but never actually designed any functional buildings. Instead he produced a series of fantastical...

Person, Architecture, Art

1 memorial
John Romer

John Romer

Architect and structural engineer. John Henry Romer was born on 13 March 1947 in Kingston-upon-Thames the eldest of the three children of Sydney Gurney Romer (1903-2005) and Dorothy Joan Agnes Rom...

Person, Architecture, Engineering

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Rachel McMillan

Rachel McMillan

Health visitor and educator. Born at Throggs Neck, Westchester county, New York. Both her parents were from Scotland, and the family returned there when her father died. She and her sister Margaret...

Person, Education, Social Welfare, USA

1 memorial
César Ritz

César Ritz

Hotelier. Born Switzerland, son of a peasant farmer. Started work as a waiter and worked his way up, in Paris, Vienna, Lucerne, etc. Came to London in 1889 as the manager of Richard D'Oyly Carte's...

Person, Commerce, Switzerland

1 memorial
Royal Tank Regiment

Royal Tank Regiment

Tanks were first used in combat at Flers, France, on 15th September 1916. Heavy Section and Heavy Branch Machine Gun Corps, the Tank Corps, Royal Tank Corps and Royal Tank Regiment.

Group, Armed Forces

1 memorial
Pam and Arthur Hudson

Pam and Arthur Hudson

WC1, Brunswick Square

Brian's tree is to the right; Pam and Arthur's to the left.

1 subject commemorated
Eric Gill

Eric Gill

Sculptor. Born Brighton. One of thirteen children of a clergyman, he remained religious all his life. Passionate believer in the "carving direct" method. His sculptures would sometimes depict contr...

Person, Art, Craft / Design, Sculpture

4 memorials