St Augustine's Church, Brighton

St Augustine’s Church stands in Brighton and Hove, a short distance north of the city centre near Preston Park and Round Hill. Built in 1896 and enlarged in 1914, it is a red-brick Perpendicular Gothic building designed by Granville E. Streatfield. The nave has five and a half bays, and the chancel ends in an ornate apse. A planned west tower was never added, leaving the entrance in a small porch at the west end. The south porch on Stanford Avenue carries a sundial with the words ‘the night cometh when no man can work’. The church is Grade II listed for its architectural importance and once served a growing Victorian suburb. Its parish absorbed the nearby St Saviour’s Church after that building closed in 1981 and was demolished. After St Augustine’s itself closed in 2003, the Elim Pentecostal congregation used it for a time before it became a community arts centre. The Diocese of Chichester later sold the building to a local group that turned it into a multi-purpose centre with a cafe, offices and exhibition space. Visitors now find a light-filled nave with pairs of lancet windows separated by brick pilasters. The chancel has flying buttresses and tracery windows, while the Lady chapel repeats similar details. A small west porch leads inside, and a second porch on the south side faces Stanford Avenue. The interior has been adapted for modern use but the original fabric remains intact, including stained glass by Charles Eamer Kempe. The centre hosts exhibitions, meetings and a coffee lounge, keeping the building alive as a community hub.