{{Short description|British architect (1864–1933)}} {{Use British English|date=December 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox person |name = Nowell Parr |honorific_suffix = FRIBA |image = Thomas Henry Nowell Parr.jpg |image_upright = 1.25 |caption = Nowell Parr, 1895 |birth_name = Thomas Henry Nowell Parr |birth_date = <!-- {{Birth date|1864|M|D|df=yes}} --> 1864 |birth_place = Handsworth, Staffordshire, England |death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|1933|9|23|1864|M|D|df=y}} --> 23 September 1933 (aged 69) |death_place = Kingston, Surrey, England<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |work=The Times |page=1 |date=26 September 1933 }}</ref> |other_names = |known_for = Public houses in west London, especially for Fuller's Brewery |occupation = Architect }}
'''Thomas Henry Nowell Parr''' FRIBA (1864 – 23 September 1933) was a British architect, best known for designing pubs in west London. Many of these were built while Parr was "house architect" for Fuller's Brewery. Parr designed various buildings in Brentford while he was surveyor and then architect to the Council from 1894 to 1907.
==Early life== Parr was born in Handsworth, Staffordshire (now Birmingham), the eldest child of Thomas Parr and Frances "Fanny" Nowell. He was baptised on 20 July 1864.<ref>''Birmingham, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1912''</ref> In 1890, his career began as an architectural assistant for Walsall Corporation architects' department, for which he worked until 1894.<ref name=CAMRA>{{cite web|title=Way Out West: Ealing and Brentford|url=http://www.londonpubsgroup.org.uk/ealing-brentwood-pub-crawl-2012|work=CAMRA|publisher=The Campaign for Real Ale|accessdate=17 December 2013|archive-date=17 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224429/http://www.londonpubsgroup.org.uk/ealing-brentwood-pub-crawl-2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Career==
===Brentford Council=== In 1894, the Brentford Local Board employed Nowell Parr as "Surveyor to the Council", and from 1897 as an architect.<ref name=BHSP>{{cite web|title=Nowell Parr, Architect (1864–1933)|url=http://www.bhsproject.co.uk/parrn.shtml|work=Brentford High Street Project|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>
From 1896–1905, Parr was architect for five large buildings in Brentford, of which three survive: Brentford Baths, Brentford Fire Station (1897),<ref name=Pevsner>{{cite book|last=Pevsner|first=Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus|title=London.|year=2002|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven, Conn.|isbn=978-0300096521|pages=383–385|edition=New }}</ref> 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.<ref name=Layton>{{cite web|title=Thomas Henry Nowell Parr, Architect|url=http://laytoncollection.org/index.php/thomas-henry-nowell-parr|work=Layton Collection|publisher=Layton Memorial & Museum Trust|accessdate=17 December 2013}}</ref>
thumb|Three Horseshoes, Southall
===Private practice=== While still working for Brentford Council, Parr began undertaking work as a pub architect. He worked for both Fuller's Brewery, Chiswick and the Royal Brewery, Brentford.<ref name=Tilesoc />
Parr started to work independently in about 1900, while still employed by Brentford UDC. He later went into partnership with fellow architect A. E. Kates, and was also joined by his son, John Nowell Parr (died 1975). He was made a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1925.<ref name=DBA>{{cite book|editor= Brodie, Antonia|title=Directory of British architects 1834–1914.|year=2001|publisher=Continuum|location=London [u.a.]|isbn=978-0826455147|page=322|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GkThQYLb3ZUC&pg=PA322}}</ref>
Parr is notable for his frequent use of Royal Doulton glazed tiles for his pub 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.<ref name=Tilesoc>{{cite web|title=Tile Gazetteer Hounslow|url=http://www.tilesoc.org.uk/tile-gazetteer/hounslow.html|work=Tilesoc.org.uk|publisher=Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society|accessdate=22 December 2013}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1891, Parr married Betsey Fennell in Birmingham. They had three children: Marguerite Parr (1894–1978), John Nowell Parr (1897–1975) and Eunice Parr (1905-1940) John was also an architect.<ref name=DBA />
In 1922, he married Mabel Harbird. They had two children: Nowell (Tim) Parr (1925-1978) and Stanley Parr (1929-2017)
Parr lived at 42 Cranley Gardens, South Kensington, London and 52 Kew Bridge Road, Brentford. He died on 23 September 1933.<ref name=DBA />
==Notable buildings== [[File:Carnegie Library(2), Brentford, 20050123.jpg|thumb|Brentford Public Library]]
* The Angel public house, 697 Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex; Grade II listed (1926)<ref>{{NHLE |num=1422617 |desc=The Angel PH |date=2015 |accessdate=14 March 2018}}</ref> * The Beehive, public house, 227 High Street, Brentford (1907) * Boatmen's Institute, The Butts, Brentford; Grade II listed (1904) * Brentford Baths, Clifden Road, Brentford; Grade II listed (1895–96) * Brentford Fire Station, Brentford (1897) [now offices] * Brentford Public Library, Brentford; Grade II listed (1904) * The Cheshire Cheese, Westminster; Grade II listed (1928)<ref>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1431970|desc=Cheshire Cheese Public House|access-date=11 February 2024}}</ref> * Devonshire House (formerly the Manor Tavern), public house, Chiswick, London * The Duke of Kent, Scotch Common, Ealing; Grade II listed (1929) * The Duke of York, public house, 107 Devonshire Road, Chiswick, London * The Forester, public house, Northfields, Ealing, Grade II listed (1909) * The George, public house, 28 Hammersmith Broadway, Hammersmith, Grade II listed (1911) * The Hole in the Wall, public house, Chiswick, London * The Old Pack Horse, public house at Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London; Grade II listed (1905)<ref name="EH_01">{{NHLE|desc=THE OLD PACKHORSE PUBLIC HOUSE|num=1240781|accessdate=22 December 2013}}</ref> * Pottery Arms, public house, Claypond Lane, Brentford (1922)<ref name=Pevsner /> * The Three Horseshoes, public house, Southall, Middlesex<ref>{{cite web|title=The Three Horseshoes, Southall|url=http://www.londonpubsgroup.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=878|work=CAMRA|publisher=The Campaign for Real Ale|accessdate=22 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224601/http://www.londonpubsgroup.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=878|archive-date=17 December 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> * Waterman's Arms, 1 Ferry Lane, Brentford
==Legacy== There is a block of flats named ''Nowell Parr Court'' at Boston Manor Road, Brentford, Middlesex.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, Nowell}} Category:1864 births Category:1933 deaths Category:20th-century English architects Category:Architects from Birmingham, West Midlands Category:Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Category:Date of birth missing Category:People from Handsworth, West Midlands Category:19th-century English architects