The Adam Room at Lloyd’s of London

By root On Sunday, July 9 2017

The room is an adaptation of the original dining room of Bowood House in Wiltshire. Designed in 1763 for the first Earl of Shelbourne, this is considered to be an important early work of Robert Adam. The famous Scottish architect had just returned from Rome and was full of enthusiasm for re-establishing the architecture of classical antiquity.

Bowood faced massive repair costs in 1956 and it was decided to demolish a sizeable part, including the Adam Great Room. This coincided with the building of the new Lloyd’s premises in Lime Street. So the architect, Terence Heysham, conceived the idea of recreating the Great Room in its entirety in the new building.

Having been purchased at auction, the room was moved from Wiltshire and installed in Lime Street under the direction of George Jackson & Sons. This was the same company that had installed the room at Bowood almost two centuries earlier.

Plasterwork which could not be incorporated in the room in the Lloyd’s 1958 building was preserved in an adjoining vestibule. So in 1986, when it was moved to the present Lloyd’s building, it was possible for the room to be restored to its original proportions.

Today, the room provides a striking contrast between the classical interior design of Adam and the post-modern architecture of Lord Rogers, who designed the present Lloyd’s building.