It was built in 1888–90 at the south-eastern side of Sloane Street, to a striking Arts and Crafts design, by the architect John Dando Sedding, and paid for by 5th Earl Cadogan, in whose London estate it lay.

Sedding died in 1891 (his memorial can be seen on the north wall in the Lady Chapel) and Henry Wilson took charge of the project to complete the interior decoration of the building to the original design.

The churchmanship at the time of the opening of the new building might be described as eclectically high, as the liturgy seems to have been drawn from a number of sources and traditions, although at this distance it is hard to gauge what exactly was done.

There was then a concerted attempt by the church authorities to close and demolish the building, replacing it with something smaller but this was thwarted by a campaign led by John Betjeman and the Victorian Society.

Trained as an actor, Gillion became Rector late in 2008 but was elected Bishop of Riverina, the extensive diocese in western New South Wales, and moved there in August 2014.

As well as a professional quartet, occasionally supplemented by choral scholars, the associate choir, conQordia continues to serve the church under the direction of Mike Abrams and Paul Heggs.

Later players and assistants have included Ian Curror and Simon Lindley, Arnold Greir and, most notably, Alan Harverson (sometime Professor of Organ at the Royal Academy of Music), Michael Brough, Richard Townend, Andrew O’Brien, Cameron Burns, James Brown and Oliver Lallemant.

Uncluttered by static pews, the vast nave provides flexible space for concerts and events, the focus of some of which mirrors and re-expresses the artistic climate surrounding its first two decades.

Many notable figures have worshipped and assisted at Holy Trinity Sloane Street, which was able to attract them from seemingly opposing sides of the British political spectrum.

The church soon attracted the attention of Bohemian artists and poets some of whom clustered loosely round Oscar Wilde, whose arrest took place, famously, at the Cadogan Hotel.

Extremely popular in the 1920s, there was a very extensive clergy team under the rector, Christopher Cheshire, including, for a time, the priest, ecclesiologist and hymnographer Percy Dearmer.