Alexander Adam was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1864 and was articled to Donald Bruce (1834-1919) and Edward Alexander Buckingham Hay (1855-1934) of Bruce & Hay in Glasgow from c.1880 to c.1885. He also briefly attended Glasgow School of Art in 1887. He was employed as a senior draughtsman by Kay & Paterson in Dublin from c.1887 to c.1891 when he returned to Glasgow. By 1894 he had formed a partnership with John Short (c.1867-1899). The firm specialised in the design of tenement buildings. The partnership was dissolved in 1897. From then on Adam practised alone. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Architects in Scotland (FIAS).
Apart from brief periods in Dublin and in Bute. Adam lived and worked in Glasgow throughout his career as an architect. He died at 657 Edgefauld Road, Glasgow on 18 March 1947.
Architectural projects by him included tenement buildings in Roxburgh Street and Hyndland Road, Glasgow (1897-98); Hutchesontown Parish Church in Hutchesontown, Glasgow (1899); an ice factory and cold store in Glasgow (1901); a store and stable in Tobago Street, Glasgow (1905); a warehouse in Gorbals Street, Glasgow (1913); and Jordanvale Works in Whiteinch, Glasgow (c.1923).
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001