Why did Robert Adam’s popularity decline after 1780?

By 1780, Robert Adam’s popularity began to decline as architectural tastes shifted toward a new desire for "noble simplicity" and "antique grandeur".1

While Adam’s style had revolutionized English taste with its lightness, freedom, and decorative synthesis, critics began to view his intricate ornamentation as excessive. This change in mood was notably captured by Horace Walpole, who, after visiting the new Carlton House designed by Henry Holland, famously dismissed Adam’s work as "gingerbread and sippets of embroidery".21

As the 18th century drew to a close, architects such as Holland, George Dance the Younger, and James Wyatt rose to prominence, offering designs that favored a more restrained and refined aesthetic. This transition marked the end of the "Adam revolution," as the architectural focus moved toward the more austere and linear abstraction that would eventually lead into the Greek Revival of the 19th century.13