David Parr worked with William Morris and other influential textile designers in the arts and crafts movement. His view on life was that ‘you better yourself through the arts’.
David Parr classed himself as an artistic decorator, hand painting walls for a living. In his spare time he painted his own walls in the arts and crafts style.
He lived in Gwydir Street, Cambridge from 1887 until his death in 1927. His Grand Daughter inherited the house and lived there for 80 years until her death in 2007.
The house was found in amazingly original condition with all of David Parr’s hand painted decoration and furniture still in place. It was classed by arts and crafts enthusuasts as a ‘time capsule’.
Once a lottery grant was made available, a complete restoration of the property was planned and Survey Operations were commissioned to undertake a very intensive Laser Scanning survey of the complete house and gardens to aid Architects and conservationists in the proposed refurbishment of the property.
All rooms, walls and ceilings were intensively scanned to produce detailed digital data for the architects to produce refurbishment images.
The work has taken three years to complete and opens to the public in summer 2019.