David Parr Visitor Centre, Cambridge, December 2024

David Parr House in Cambridge is a gem of the Arts and Crafts movement.

David Parr, a working class Victorian decorative artist painted houses for the wealthy and also numerous churches with designs by the best designers of the time, including William Morris. For over 40 years David Parr transformed and painted the interior of his terraced house in the style of the grand interiors he worked on.

On his death his granddaughter Elsie, moved in to the house and lived there, bringing up her own family, for 85 years, leaving the walls largely untouched. The house is therefore a time capsule of the Arts and Crafts era. Simply remarkable.

Ten students from the MA Fine Art course at Anglia Ruskin University, held a site-response exhibition to the David Parr House. The Art of Living engages with the aesthetics and themes of the house, its occupants and the ethos of the Arts and Crafts movement more widely. 

Below are images of their exhibited work, in-situ, and their details should you wish to follow or contact them.

[click an image to enlarge]

The artists were...