The home and workplace of a working-class Victorian labourer who decorated houses and colleges around Cambridge has been given listed status.
David Parr bought his two-bedroom terraced home at 186 Gwydir Street in the city in 1886 and worked on it tirelessly until his death in 1927.
His descendants lived in the house until 2013, preserving it like a time capsule, and it has since been turned into a visitor attraction showcasing his craft.
Behind the door of this unassuming house is an extraordinary artistic masterpiece which can now be enjoyed by a much wider audience via the socially-distanced audio tours
Inside the home of David Parr: The working-class Victorian labourer created a work of art on walls and ceilings with all-over patterns adapted from schemes he painted for his employer
David Parr worked tirelessly on his two-bedroom terraced home at 186 Gwydir Street in Cambridge from 1886 until his death in 1927
It appears in passing to be an ordinary mid-Victorian worker’s terraced house, but inside Parr created a work of art on walls and ceilings with all-over patterns adapted from schemes he painted for his employer.
Parr was employed by the nationally renowned firm of artistic workmen FR Leach & Sons, which had its showroom at 3 St Mary’s Passage in Cambridge.
The two properties have been listed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic England.
The intricate details on the ceilings and walls are a true work of art which can be marvelled at by people through audio tours
The house has been meticulously crafted and designed both inside and out and is now open to the public and operating socially-distanced audio tours as The David Parr House
His home, now open to the public and operating socially-distanced audio tours as The David Parr House, has been listed at Grade II*, while his employer’s former showroom has been listed at Grade II.
Tony Calladine, regional director for Historic England in the East of England, said: ‘The listing of David Parr House and 3 St Mary’s Passage gives due recognition to the unknown highly talented artists and craftsmen who brought to life the creative inspiration of celebrated designers.
‘In supporting David Parr House to create a digital tour, we hope this extraordinary artistic masterpiece will be enjoyed by a much wider audience.’
Historic England awarded a Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Resilience Grant of more than £40,000 to enable David Parr House to offer the pre-bookable digital tours.
Tamsin Wimhurst, chairwoman of trustees of David Parr House, said: ‘This is wonderful recognition for all the hard work shown by everyone who helped to save and conserve the David Parr House.
‘It highlights the importance of having spaces where we can celebrate ordinary working people, the beauty of making and the comfort of home.’
Parr, who together with his wife Mary Jane raised their three children Mary, David and Sarah at their house, kept a notebook in which he recorded the transformation of the house.
Alongside the painted decoration, items of joinery designed and built by Parr also survive, alongside the original curtain rails, the late 19th century toilet and the 1920s oven, which provide an almost complete picture of a house of this period.
The recent conservation of the house, which was based on detailed research and carried out with scrupulous care, has ensured its ongoing preservation.
The house is described by Historic England as a ‘physical embodiment of the renaissance of crafts encouraged by the Gothic Revival and, later, the Arts and Crafts movement’.
FR Leach & Sons, whose former showroom has been listed, received the keys to 3 St Mary’s Passage in 1880.
The company worked in partnership with some of the country’s best-known designers and architects, notably William Morris, father of the Arts and Crafts movement; George Bodley, the Gothic Revival architect; and Charles Kempe, the stained-glass artist.
It faced financial difficulties during the First World War and the company was placed into liquidation in 1916.
The building was acquired by King’s College Cambridge in 1936 and it currently operates as a shop.
The working-class Victorian labourer decorated houses and colleges around Cambridge and spent decades designing his own with scrupulous care
A fireplace in St Mary’s Passage, Camrbridge, the workshop of David Parr, the Vcitorian designer and decorator who transformed the mansions of the wealthy
David Parr: Victorian decorator paid a pittance to transform the interiors of lavish mansions he could but only dream of living in
David Parr (pictured) decorated houses and colleges around Cambridge and used his expertise and knowledge to decorate his own home with minute detail
David Parr was a working-class Victorian decorator in Cambridge who took his work home with him – and created a masterpiece of his own to live in.
Decorators of that era were often paid a pittance to design and decorate interiors and exteriors of private mansions of the rich and famous and Cambridge colleges.
After completing his day job, Parr would return to his humble two-bedroom terraced house and work tirelessly into the night by candlelight to decorate it.
It took him 40 years to painstakingly decorate the walls and ceilings with scrupulous detail.
He turned his own home into a masterpiece with all the craftmanship and artistry he had acquired through his employment.
Parr kept a notebook in which he meticulously wrote down the cost of materials, how long it took him to complete each task and how much it would have cost in labour.
According to the notebook some jobs took him as much as 85 hours and others more than 30 years.
He was a great fan of Morris’s patterns and used some of them to design his own home.
The Cambridge house was bought by Parr in 1886 and he didn’t stop working on it until his death in 1927.
His granddaughter Elsie Palmer lived at the house for 85 years soon after his death and left it largely unchanged.