Our building

The building was completed in 1875 having taken less than 2 years to build. The church and the original vicarage were paid for by one man, William Matthew Coulthurst, who was the senior partner of Coutts Bank. On the outside of the East end of the church there is a stone plaque recording this and the fact that it was partly built in memory of Hannah Mabella Coulthurst, the dead sister of William Matthew Coulthurst.  Built into the wall behind the plaque we understand that there is a photograph of Hannah, a copy of 'The Times' for the day and a letter from William Coulthurst stipulating that the church should be and remain in the evangelical tradition.

The Church and Vicarage cost £26,500. The old vicarage was pulled down in 1939 and  a subsequent one built on the same plot.  In 2012 work started on a new vicarage on part of the plot and this was completed in 2013.  When the Church was first built, St Matthew's Avenue and Kingsdowne Road were only country tracks and the church stood in a hay meadow. The only existing house was the large one opposite, which is now 24/26 Kingsdowne Road.


By 1896 the area  which had been largely rural  when the church was built just 14 years before was becoming more populated.



Just a few years later in about 1901, the corner of Kingsdowne Road looked like this.





By 1910 the outside of the church looked like this



And here's an aerial view taken in the 1920's