Although worship no longer takes place in the building, its theatre-like design has made it a popular venue for concerts and musical events.

Chichester, the county town of West Sussex, is an ancient settlement at the junction of several Roman and medieval roads.

Roman walls encircle the heart of the city, which is divided into quadrants by straight streets with a market at the centre.

The proprietary system involved the purchase of shares in the church by private individuals, who received in exchange a "sitting" (the right to own a pew).

The High church movement demanded formality and ritual, placed central importance of the Eucharist and was less concerned about preaching; its churches reflected this by favouring the Gothic Revival architectural style and features, large central altars and lavish decoration.

The Low church or Evangelical wing of Anglicanism emphasised preaching, personal belief and an absence of ritual.

[2] The church, an elongated octagon in the Classical style with some Greek Revival features, was built of white brick and cost £7,000 (£589,000 in 2025).

[10][14] The exterior walls of the elongated octagonal building are of yellowish-white brick covered in parts with stucco.

[5][10][14] A curious external feature is a miniature copy of the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates forming a sort of cupola on the roof, and described variously as "preposterous" and "excellent".

[5][10] This stone structure is shaped like a cylinder and has a spherical roof set on top of an entablature held up by Corinthian-style columns.

[5] Inside, the most prominent features are these galleries, which form a rectangle and are held up on Egyptian-style iron columns,[3] and the large pulpit, which "towers over everything".

[17] An unusual refinement of the more common two-decker structure, a three-decker allowed different parts of the service to be read from different levels according to their importance.