It has a unique concrete roof shaped in an unusual barrel vault (that was Steere's idea) and the overall structure mixes Perpendicular Gothic and Islamic details.

[4] The church is located in Mkunazini Road, in the centre of the old town, and occupies a large area where the biggest slave market of Zanzibar used to be; the construction of the cathedral was in fact intended to celebrate the end of slavery.

In the square there is a well-known monument to the slaves (a few human figures in chains emerging from a pit) as well as a museum on slavery.

Inside the church there is a cross that was made from the wood of the tree that grows on the place where David Livingstone's heart was buried, in Chitambo.

[5] As many other historical coral-stone buildings in Stone Town, the Cathedral experiences decay and structural problems and needs restoring.