You could easily walk past and just think it was a normal terraced home
Cambridge is one of Britain’s tourist hotspot, with lots of different places for people to visit. The university colleges are a top choice, but there are also a wide range of museums.
These attractions are not hard to miss, but there is one Cambridge attraction that’s hidden in plain sight. Walking down Gwydir Street, people will be faced with terraced houses.
What some people might not know is there is a museum hidden with one of these terraced houses. This is the David Parr House.
This “ordinary Cambridge terraced house” was home to Victorian working class artist David Parr and his family for more than 125 years. The house is a “rare survival of arts and crafts workmanship in a modest domestic setting, layered with 20th century social history”, as stated on the David Parr website.
David Parr worked for a Cambridge firm of artworkers known as F.R. Leach & Sons. He hand-painted houses and churches.
In 1886, he bought 186 Gwydir Street and decorated the home over the next 40 years. He decorated it by lamps and candlelight in the style of grand interiors he decorated through work.
When he died in 1927, his home was passed down to his granddaughter Elsie Palmer. She lived in it for over 85 years. Today, the house is open to the public for people to visit.
There are a range of guided tours, workshops and events held at the house. If people want to visit, it costs £15 for people to visit without a guided tour, and £20 with a guided tour.
The house is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10am until 5pm.
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