[1][2] It is located south of the city centre of Leicester, on the London Road (A6), opposite Victoria Park.

After visiting Italy, Goddard's external design for St James was influenced by Torcello Cathedral on the Venetian lagoon and its interior decor from churches in Venice and Florence.

[5] The west front was completed between 1911 and 1914 and was dedicated by Creighton's successor Edward Carr Glyn, the Bishop of Peterborough, on 24 September 1914.

In the late 1950s, the Diocese of Leicester threatened to close the church dues to falling congressional numbers.

However, its incumbent, Reverend Lawrence Jackson, who was appointed in 1959, managed to bring people back to the church with his remarkable ministry.