After a period of more than 2 years of restorative works, the Cathedral Nave was reopened and dedicated by Bishop Titus Chung on 24 December 2023.

A piece of land between Hill Street and North Bridge Road was originally allocated by Sir Stamford Raffles in his Town Plan of 1822 for the siting of an Anglican church.

[5] After complaints that the church resembled a "Town Hall, a College or an Assembly Room", a spire was added by John Turnbull Thomson in 1842.

Colonel Ronald MacPherson, the Executive Engineer and Superintendent of convicts, designed the new church in the Gothic Revival style.

[6] The plan was also simplified so that it could be more easily built by Indian convict labourers, who were commonly used in building construction in early Singapore.

Dr Daniel Wilson, Lord Bishop of Calcutta, laid the foundation stone on 4 March 1856, and the building was completed in 1861.

[5] The Saint Andrew's Mission was initiated on 25 June 1856, and the first Anglican evangelical outreach in Singapore was launched from the church.

[5] The cathedral bells, cast in 1888 by John Taylor & Co of Loughborough, England, were originally hung as a chime of eight in the key of E-flat.

However, contemporary surveys found that the tower had unsuitable foundations to support a swinging peal of bells, and they were hung dead for chiming via the Ellacombe system.

[13] In 2018, a further survey found that the tower was perfectly capable of withstanding change ringing, and a project was launched for them to be hung properly.

The architect MacPherson is said to have drawn inspiration for aspects of the design from Netley Abbey, a ruined thirteenth century church in Hampshire, England.

[6][20] MacPherson is remembered in the grey and red granite memorial monument surmounted by a Maltese cross in the grounds, and by the stained glass window over the west door.

[6] Three objects in the Saint Andrew's Cathedral symbolise the affiliation of the Church with the Anglican Communion in England and its allegiance to the worldwide See of Canterbury.