File:Adelphi Terrace (26695535873).jpg

The Adelphi Plaque is currently (May 2016) fenced off as building work is under way. Until recently there was a far taller protective wooden fence, but it been replaced by a roll of reinforced plastic sheeting stretched between poles, and the inscription can now just be seen over the top; as can the rest of the roll of plastic sheeting which the builders have propped against it.

"This building stands on the site of Adelphi Terrace built by the brothers Adam in 1768-1774. Among the occupants of the Terrace were Topham and Lady Diana Beauclerk, David Garrick, Richard Doyle Carte, Thomas Hardy & George Bernard Shaw, The London School of Economics and Political Science and the Savage Club also had their premises here."

Adelphi Terrace is one of London's greatest architectural losses. Largely demolished in 1936, after WWII the LCC decided to commemorate the area and it's residents, including David Garrick and the Adam Brothers who had been commemorated with earlier plaques lost at the time of demolition. As the inscription would have been too long for a standard plaque, the words were cut directly into the stonework of a 1930's pier - carved and coloured by Mr W.H. Sharpington - in November 1951.

The original wording omitted the line "and Political Science". and was subsequently modified; comparison with a contemporary photograph suggests the entire section after "Lady Diana Beauclerk" was cut out and replaced.

The original circular brown David Garrick plaque, erected by the RSA at 5 Adelphi Place in 1876 and believed lost in the 1930s recently came to light at an auction. It sold for £650 in November 2015 and is believed to be in the possession of the Garrick Club.

<a href="http://www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/Lot/?sale=DA251115&lot=124&id=302724" rel="nofollow">www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk/Lot/?sale=DA251115&lot=124...</a>