{"id":4541,"date":"2025-04-22T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T07:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/?p=4541"},"modified":"2025-04-18T07:27:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T07:27:54","slug":"do-you-know-about-david-parr-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/do-you-know-about-david-parr-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Do\u00a0you know about David Parr House?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Behind the ordinary front door of 186 Gwydir Street lies an extraordinary hand-painted interior. From 1886, this was the home of Victorian working-class decorative artist David Parr and his family. The house is a remarkable example of Arts and Crafts workmanship, layered with 20th-century social history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being taken on as an apprentice, David Parr worked for F. R. Leach & Sons, a firm of artworkmen based on City Road in Cambridge. The firm was renowned across the country, working with many notable designers of the day, including George Frederick Bodley, William Morris, and Charles Eamer Kempe. F. R. Leach & Sons specialised in all aspects of church decoration, from wall painting to altar hangings, stained glass to candlesticks. Their work can be found across the UK, from Scotland to the Isle of Wight, and locally in Cambridge at Jesus College, St Botolph’s Church, Queens’ College, and All Saints’ Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1886, Parr bought 186 Gwydir Street and, over the next 40 years, decorated his terraced home by lamp and candlelight with his own designs, echoing the style of the grand interiors he worked on by day. Following his death in 1927, his granddaughter, Elsie Palmer, came to live in the house and preserved it for over 85 years. In 2014, the David Parr House charity was established, opening the house to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the house welcomes visitors and hosts events, exhibitions, and creative workshops. The charity continues to research Parr’s life and the work of F. R. Leach & Sons, uncovering stories from Cambridge’s rich artistic heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Want to know more? Get involved by visiting, donating, volunteering, attending events, or spreading the word. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website: davidparrhouse.org <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact: info@davidparrhouse.org<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Behind the ordinary front door of 186 Gwydir Street lies an extraordinary hand-painted interior. From 1886, this was the home of Victorian working-class decorative artist David Parr and his family. The house is a remarkable example of Arts and Crafts workmanship, layered with 20th-century social history. After being taken on as an apprentice, David Parr worked for F. R. Leach & Sons, a firm of artworkmen based on City Road in Cambridge. The firm was renowned across the country, working with many notable designers of the day, including George Frederick Bodley, William Morris, and Charles Eamer Kempe. F. R. Leach & Sons specialised in all aspects of church decoration, from wall painting to altar hangings, stained glass to candlesticks. Their work can be found across the UK, from Scotland to the Isle of Wight, and locally in Cambridge at Jesus College, St Botolph’s Church, Queens’ College, and All Saints’ Church. In 1886, Parr bought 186 Gwydir Street and, over the next 40 years, decorated his terraced home by lamp and candlelight with his own designs, echoing the style of the grand interiors he worked on by day. Following his death in 1927, his granddaughter, Elsie Palmer, came to live in the house and preserved it for over 85 years. In 2014, the David Parr House charity was established, opening the house to the public. Today, the house welcomes visitors and hosts events, exhibitions, and creative workshops. The charity continues to research Parr’s life and the work of F. R. Leach & Sons, uncovering stories from Cambridge’s rich artistic heritage. Want to know more? Get involved by visiting, donating, volunteering, attending events, or spreading the word.  Website: davidparrhouse.org  Contact: info@davidparrhouse.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Master-Bedroom-View_Credit_Lucinda-Douglas-Menzies-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Tb23-1bf","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4544,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4541\/revisions\/4544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overvillage.co.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}