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 overlooked 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 images.

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 front elevation very different from that on our Garrick page. In 1872 the Victorians obliterated the Adams' neoclassical façades, adding heavy decorative features, around the windows and the bulky central attic pediment. The resultant houses would have been unrecognisable to their architects.

Drawings at the Rise and Fall make it clear that the houses at the two ends of the Terrace were detached from the main body of 10 houses.  No.11, the detached house at the eastern end, survived not just demolition in the '30s but also the attentions of the Victorians. Google Maps does not provide a good view of it but Wikipedia has a photo, from which one can imagine how impressive the whole Terrace must have been during its first 100 years.

For more information see 'The Rise and Fall of The Adelphi'. There is also this gem from Hansard, a splendid speech made by Lord Newton, 16 March 1933. British History Online gives all the occupants.

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

Commemorated ati

Adam, Hood, Galsworthy, Barrie, etc.

Robert Adam, Thomas Hood, John Galsworthy, Sir James Barrie and other eminent...

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Garrick plaque - gone

Garrick died in this house.

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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

Colen Campbell

Colen Campbell

Architect. Born in Scotland, a descendent of the Campbells of Cawdor Castle. One of the initiators of the Neo-Palladian movement through his publication, the 3-part Vitruvius Britannicus.

Person, Architecture, Scotland

1 memorial
Arthur Davis

Arthur Davis

Born London, as Arthur Joseph Davis. In collaboration with Charles Mewes, he designed the Ritz Hotel, the Royal Automobile Club (Pall Mall), the interior of the Carlton Hotel (lost), the old Mornin...

Person, Architecture

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 John Vanbrugh

Sir John Vanbrugh

Playwright and architect. Born in the parish of St Nicholas Acons, London, of Flemish descent. Worked in the English Baroque style, sometimes with Hawksmoor, on Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace. L...

Person, Architecture, Espionage, Theatre

6 memorials
Robert Atkinson & A. F. B. Anderson

Robert Atkinson & A. F. B. Anderson

Architects active in the 1930s. Also built the Grade II listed Swiss Cottage Regency Lodge, the huge block of flats that occupies the southern section of the Swiss Cottage gyratory and other blocks...

Group, Architecture

1 memorial