London Life Founding fathers

also before signing an agreement with the Duke of St Albans, who owned the land’s freehold. Alas, the Latin proverb that audaces fortuna iuvat didn’t prove true: a few years into the project, hit by the 1772 Scottish banking crisis, they ran out of money, with many buildings still left unfinished and unsold. It was a turn of events that had been foreseen by another Scottish luminary, David Hume, who, although expressing concern for the Adams, wrote to a common friend, the economist Adam Smith: ‘To me the scheme of the Adelphi always appeared so imprudent that my wonder is how they could have gone on so long.’

Financial redemption came in the form of a lottery, authorised by Parliament and held on March 3, 1774: a £50 ticket opened up the chance to win a range of prizes that included houses in the Adelphi development and on Mansfield Street—legend has it that the first ticket to be drawn had only been sold half an hour before the lottery was due to begin. Keen to restore their fortunes, the brothers also published The Works in Architecture of Robert and James Adam, in which they spelled out the principles of their style: ‘If we have any claim to approbation,’ they wrote, ‘we found it on this alone: That we flatter ourselves, we have been able to seize, with some degree of success, the beautiful spirit of antiquity, and to transfuse it, with novelty and variety, through all our numerous works.’

Unfortunately, neither their reputation nor their finances ever completely recovered. Walpole, a reliable thermometer of social popularity, turned from adoration to criticism, accusing Robert Adam of being ‘a notorious cheat’ because the lottery prizes were worth less than their estimated value. The Adelphi

At home in Robert Adam’s London

St John’s Wood, £12.5 million

Much like his 18th-century namesake, Winchester architect Robert Adam is lauded for his elegant, classical style. He designed 10 neo-Georgian townhouses in St John’s Wood, of which this is one. Spanning 6,115sq ft, it has five bedrooms and grand reception rooms. Savills (020–3043 3600; www.savills.co.uk)

Mayfair,

£8 million

Set in a Grade II-listed building designed by Robert Adam, this fourbedroom lateral flat has 2,700sq ft of beautifully finished interiors, featuring everything from bespoke kitchen and joinery to underfloor heating and Lutron lighting. Savills (020–3527 7415; www.savills.co.uk) predictably went down in architectural history as a synonym for hubris and the Adam practice, by then run by William, eventually went bankrupt in 1817.

Nonetheless, when Robert died in 1792, The Gentleman’s Magazine wrote: ‘The many elegant buildings, public and private, erected in various parts of the kingdom by Mr. Adam will remain lasting monuments of his taste and genius.’ The one-time architect from the provinces had achieved the dream of his youth and ascended to the pantheon of Britain’s great and good.

Strand, £1.55 million

Situated in John Adam Street, on the site where 18th-century caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson once lived, this 1,100sq ft apartment has two bedrooms, a roomy living and dining area (with separate kitchen) and views of the London Eye. CBRE (020–7420 3050; www.cbreresidential.com)