The Adams Building Nottingham

The Adams Building, on Stoney Street, is the largest building in the Lace Market district of Nottingham, England.

Formerly a lace showroom and warehouse, it is probably the largest and finest example of a Victorian lace warehouse to survive in the country. The building is Grade II* listed now forms part of the City campus of New College Nottingham.

Opened on 10 July 1855, the building is named after its original owner Thomas Adams (1817–1873), a Victorian industrialist with strong Quaker views and a deep social conscience. He selected the Nottingham architect Thomas Chambers Hine and between them, they created a building which, for a variety of social and architectural reasons, is quite unique.

As it now exists, the Adams Building is the product of several distinct phases of construction from 1854 to around 1874. The earliest phase is the building facing Stoney Street, with its elaborate symmetrical frontage behind a railed courtyard. It was designed as a lace showroom and warehouse, in which lace products brought in from outlying factories were finished off and then sold. The main display area seems to have been a two-storey lightwell in the centre of the building (now closed up), originally lit by decorative gas lamps; approached by a grand staircase. Secondary areas were used for mending and packing. The main power-source was a steam engine to the rear, with hydraulic engines for the hoists and packing machines.

Maximum lighting was provided for the lace repair and finishing shops. Hine provided 'lace lofts' at roof level whose walls were almost entirely built from glass. These lace lofts were innovative in their time and quickly became a characteristic of Nottingham's then-thriving lace manufacturing industry. This architectural motif can still be seen (along with more modern interpretations) throughout the Lace Market today.

As a committed philanthropist, Thomas Adams was determined to provide humane conditions and good facilities for his workforce. A large area of the basement (now Floor B) was designed as a chapel (with a company chaplain and vestry) where more than 500 workers and managers would take part in a service before starting work. Indoor toilets, washing facilities and tea rooms were provided for staff, and there are records of a sick fund, savings bank and book club.

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