David Parr House is an ordinary terraced house with an extraordinary hand-painted interior located just off Mill Road Cambridge. Home to the Victorian working-class artist, David Parr and his family, the house is an example of Arts and Crafts workmanship layered with 20th-century social history. 

David Parr bought 186 Gwydir Street in 1886 and spent the next 40 years transforming the house into a beautifully decorated, comfortable family home. David documented his home improvements in his notebook, which survives to this day and meticulously documents how the house was restructured, improved and decorated.

Following David’s death in 1927, the home was preserved firstly by his wife, Mary and later by his granddaughter, Elsie Palmer who moved into the house when she was 12 and lived there for over 85 years.  

In 2009, a local historian visited the house for the first time and began the work to form the charitable trust that would preserve the house for posterity.  

Through the work of volunteers, crowdfunding and the support of individuals, trusts and foundations, the house was secured and opened to the public in 2019.