In March 1791, the Adam office’s Edinburgh Clerk of Works, John Paterson, encountered the Stirling brothers (of the renowned Glasgow cloth-printing company William Stirling and Sons) Andrew and James, whilst on a journey from Glasgow. Paterson was already well acquainted with Andrew from this meeting, and visited his premises at Drumpellier to discuss potential Adam office projects in Glasgow, including the Glasgow Infirmary. At this point, no design had been ‘fixt’, and correspondence between Paterson and Robert Adam reveals that Paterson endeavoured to recommend Adam for the project.

Robert Adam visited Glasgow in September 1791 and in October he attended a meeting with the Glasgow Committee of Management where he presented his proposed scheme. The sub-committee enquired about the cost, which was given as £8,725 and 19 shillings, and asked whether a more ‘plain’ building of the same size would be suitable without the large expense. Adam returned with an alternative design with a more pared-back elevation and offered to contract for its construction with an addition of 2.5% for unforeseen expenses, at a total of £7,365. This option was unanimously agreed upon as the preferable design. Stevenson suggests that the two surviving elevation designs (SM Adam volume 48/8 & 9) relate to these two options and can be attributed to Robert Adam. The plainer design (SM Adam volume 48/9) has a note on it stating ‘the right copy according to the contract’. Adam’s design was considered amongst competing tenders and estimates by the committee in January 1792 and Stevenson argues that the contract must have been signed before Robert’s death.

Robert died in March 1792 and a letter was sent to his brothers James and William in the hope that they would take up the contract. James declined initially but within a month had changed his mind and in April 1792 he was appointed Inspector and Surveyor of the Buildings with Messrs Morison and Burns. James attended the founding of the Infirmary in May 1792 and saw through its construction until his death in October 1794, just two months before its opening.

The executed scheme had eight wards over four floors, with an additional basement floor, and a fourth-floor circular operating room with a glazed domed ceiling. Each end had back stairs, additional water closets and rooms for the medical and administrative officers. One of the Infirmary’s first two physicians, Robert Cleghorn, commented on the benefit of the number and placement of the water closets in comparison to the Edinburgh Infirmary, a building designed by Adam’s father, William Adam, and which he used as a model. Cleghorn also stated that the layout was heavily based upon a report made to the late King of France by the Committee of the Paris Académie des Sciences, which was given to Adam to study.

The building was extended through the nineteenth century as the needs of the hospital expanded. In the mid-nineteenth century, the ground level in front of the building was lowered so that the basement became the ground floor, and the original door was removed. The building was demolished in 1907.

Literature: National Library Scotland: MSS.19992-19993, Letters from John Paterson to Robert Adam, 1790-91; A.T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, pp. 196-7, Index, 1922, p.14; M. Sanderson, ‘Robert Adam’s last visit to Scotland’, Architectural History, Vol. 25, pp. 33-46; C. Stevenson, Medicine and Magnificence: British Hospital and Asylum Architecture 1660-1815, 2000, pp. 151-1, 196-200; D. King, The Complete Works of Robert & James Adam and Unbuilt Adam, Volume 1, 2001, pp. 32, 61-64, Volume 2, p. 56

With thanks to the Arts Society Fund and the Art Fund’s Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grant which enabled archival visits in Edinburgh to support research for this scheme.

Louisa Catt, 2023