Background
Parr was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire (now Birmingham) in 1864, the eldest child of Thomas Parr and Frances "Fanny" Nowell.
Parr was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire (now Birmingham) in 1864, the eldest child of Thomas Parr and Frances "Fanny" Nowell.
In 1890, his career began as an architectural assistant for Walsall Corporation architects" department, for whom he worked until 1894. Brentford Council In 1894, the Brentford Local Board employed Nowell Parr as "Surveyor to the Council", and from 1897 as an architect. From 1896–1905, Parr was architect for five large buildings in Brentford, of which three survive, Brentford Baths, Brentford Fire Station (1897), and Brentford Library.
Brentford Vestry Hall (apparently the finest of these five) was demolished in 1963, and Brentford Enclosed Market in 1982.
The Market eventually became a skateboarding rink, and was also used as a backdrop for episodes of The Sweeney, the 1970s British television police drama. Private practice While still working for Brentford Council, Parr began undertaking work as a public architect.
He worked for both Fuller"s Brewery, Chiswick and the Royal Brewery, Brentford. Parr started to work independently in about 1900, while still employed by Brentford United Daughters of the Confederacy. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects) in 1925.
Parr is notable for his frequent use of Royal Doulton glazed tiles for his public facades, often in bright or unusual colours, such as green and a mottled slate blue at the Beehive (which has a beehive-shaped turret on top) in Brentford in 1907.
There is a block of flats, Nowell Parr Court, at Boston Manor Road, Brentford, Middlesex.
