Robert Adam (1728 - 1792) was the leading designer/architect of his day and his influence was both profound and widespread. There is a large extant bibliography and anything added here would be simply trivial, compared to the diligent researches of very many academics who have studied and written in detail on Adam's work. Headfort is probably Adam's only substantial work in Southern Ireland, though there are echoes of it at Powerscourt and elsewhere.

Though far less luxuriant than some of Adam's interiors in England and Scotland, nonetheless there is quite a lot to admire at Headfort. This detail is from the ceiling of the Green Drawing Room, which is the work of Antonio Zucchi, 3rd husband of Angelica Kaufman, to whom some of the decoration at Headfort has been attributed.

The school has been largely instrumental in preserving the structure of the house, though much of the furniture has been sold off over the years, both by the Headfort family and succeeding owners of the estate. The school was started in 1949 by Marchioness of Headfort on a lease basis but recently has become the owner of the house and therefore curator of this important slice of our architectural heritage. In 1997, Headfort staged a Summer Festival. Part of the preparation for this event was a semi-permanent display of material relevant to the planning and implementation of Adam's designs for Headfort. Most of this display, which was the work of Michael Bolton and Nick Nicholson, fine art expert for Hamilton, Osborne, King, is still on view in the house. Of the principal rooms, three remain substantially as they would have been 200 years ago. They are referred to here by their current names. Originally The Front Hall would have been "The Hall", The Green Drawing Room "The Saloon " and the Ballroom "The Eating Parlour".