The Wrenaissance-style brick structure occupies a prominent corner site in a conservation area and provides a visual contrast to the older villas around it.

The Ralli family, the first members of which moved to England in the 1820s from Chios in Greece, established a successful trading empire in London in the 19th century.

[3] For example, Stephen Ralli made a donation of £300 (£42,000 in 2025)[6] to a fund set up to help victims of a typhoid epidemic in nearby Worthing in 1893.

[4] In 1904, his widow Marietta commissioned three stained glass windows in the church to commemorate him, and gave £26,434 (£3,597,500 in 2025)[6] from her inheritance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital "to endow and fit up a department of clinical research and bacteriology".

[4] Stephen Ralli laid the foundation stone (in the form of a plaque) on 14 April 1913, and a board of trustees was set up to administer the building.

[4] Almost immediately, the gymnasium in the basement section of the building was put to use as a drill hall to train soldiers fighting in World War I.

[3][10] Since its change of ownership, the building has become an integral part of community life in Hove and hosts a diverse range of activities in its ten rooms.

[13] The building is a licensed wedding venue; yoga, zumba[14] and ceroc dance classes are held;[15] mother-and-baby, art, theatre and bridge clubs meet there; and there is a snooker room.

[19] It serves as "an important focal point" in an area of predominantly late Victorian residential building in the vicinity of Hove railway station.

[1][7][20] Small brick walls and iron railings surround the building and are included in English Heritage's listing.

[1][7] The building provides a contrast in age and architectural style to the well-spaced, well-detailed 1860s houses of Denmark Villas, with their pale brickwork and stucco.

The bays are defined by brick pilasters, and the outermost oriel windows have open pediments above and richly decorated brackets below.

The Ionic-columned stepped porch spans the centre three bays and leads to a recessed entrance with three sets of doors.