Adam designed three adjacent drawing rooms for the principal (first) floor of Cumberland House. The first drawing room was to be in the north-east corner of the house, the second in the south-east corner, and the third was in the centre of the south front. None of the drawing rooms were executed.

For the wall treatment of this room Adam designed grotesque panels, a motif that he had used regularly since the 1760s. Here, however, they are more flat and refined than earlier examples, being characteristic of the mature style of the Adam office.

According to Stillman the chimneypiece for this room, seen in Adam volume 49/18, is similar to that for the drawing room at Wynn House, 20 St James's Square (Adam volume 23/10) which also makes use of ornamental painted panels.