Inside Arts & Crafts house frozen in time
IT may look like an ordinary terraced house.
But the inside is a work of art – with the skill and creativity of the humble owner preserved as a shrine to his craft.
Now the David Parr House, which is already a tourist attraction, has been given Grade II* listed status.
Labourer Parr bought his two- bedroom home at 186 Gwydir Street, Cambridge, in 1886 and worked on it until his death in 1927.
He created a work of art on walls and ceilings with all- over patterns. Items he designed and built also survived, including curtain rails, toilet and oven.
His descendants lived there until 2013, preserving it like a
time capsule. Parr worked for FR Leach & Sons, which had its showroom at St Mary’s Passage, and also has protected status.
The firm worked with some of the country’s top designers, notably William Morris, father of the Arts and Crafts movement. Tony Calladine, of Historic England, called the house an “extraordinary artistic masterpiece”.