Born and apprenticed in the town of Schwäbisch Gmünd, Peter worked at several important late Medieval building sites, including Strasbourg, Cologne, and Nuremberg.

After 1356 he lived in Prague, capital of the Kingdom of Bohemia and seat of the Holy Roman Empire, where he created his most famous works: St. Vitus Cathedral and the Charles Bridge.

Around 1333, when Peter was born, Heinrich was invited by the free imperial city of Schwäbisch Gmünd to take over construction of a large new parish church, Holy Cross Minster.

[2] The designs developed by the father and son team at Holy Cross were unique and mark an important milestone in late Gothic architecture and sculpture.

The idea arises because certain detailed and concealed technical devices appear in his later work which could have only been obtained through first-hand experience and not from any architectural drawings.

[9] Sometime after 1352 Peter joined the construction works at the Frauenkirche in Nuremberg as the parlier, or chief site assistant alongside his father.

The foundations of the church had already been laid in 1351 on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, who envisioned it as a center for holding imperial ceremonies.

[10] Built on the ruins of an older castle, its ambitious architecture can be directly connected to the Parlers and Peter probably worked there as a sculptor.

[4] By 1355 their sophisticated style had come to the attention of Charles IV and Peter was called to work in Prague, the capitol of the new Kingdom of Bohemia and seat of the Emperor.

Today research usually sets the date to 1356,[11] which accounts for a pause in construction in both Nuremberg and Prague, as well as information that he was at least 23 years old at the time of his appointment.

When elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, Charles determined to make Prague the showcase capital of Central Europe and recruited Peter Parler to execute this grand vision.

[12] When Peter arrived in Prague in 1356 at the age of 23, his immediate assignment was to take over the construction site at St. Vitus Cathedral, which had languished since the death of Matthias of Arras in 1352.

The exact time is known because the architect had the palindromic number 135797531 carved into the bridge's tower, having been chosen by the royal astrologists as the most auspicious for starting construction.

[16] The Parler family grew large and its many members worked at Gothic construction sites all over Central Europe and Northern Italy.

Although their wedding date is not exactly known, by 1360 they were raising three sons and a daughter: After 1360, Peter owned a house in Prague Castle Square and had been elected city alderman.

More importantly, the balustrade's widely spaced vertical bars and its position flowing outside of the outermost ribs are exactly like Peter Parler's original design of the western bays at St. Vitus’ Cathedral.

An Asteroid named in honor of Peter Parler, 6550 Parléř, was discovered by Antonín Mrkos at Kleť Observatory on 4 November 1988.