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.BackgroundOpened 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.Phase IAs 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.