It is now the St Augustine's Community Arts Centre, encompassing a cafe, exhibition space, offices, and other rooms.

Brighton and Hove, which were then separate towns, experienced a surge in churchbuilding during the Victorian era, but St Augustine's church was a relative latecomer.

Its construction was a consequence of the gradual development of housing around Preston Village—an ancient village about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-northwest of central Brighton.

The village became popular with daytrippers from Brighton in the early 19th century, with its large park, tea-rooms and other attractions, but residential development did not start until the 1860s, when the Stanford estate began to be broken up and sold.

It was built by local architects Edmund Scott and Frank Cawthorn in 1886 in the Early English style, in flint, stone and red brick.

The church has purchased the site of St Augustine's and intends to redevelop the building and move back.

[10] As of 2014 the church building is undergoing conversion into The St. Augustine's Centre, a multi-purpose community development including apartments, coffee lounge, bistro/cafeteria, and offices.

[11] Granville Streatfield designed St Augustine's in the Perpendicular Gothic style using red brick with stone dressings.

[2] There is another porch on the south side (facing Stanford Avenue), with a sundial bearing the inscription the night cometh when no man can work (John 9:4).