The Grade II listed building, designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, was started in 1901 but did not take its present form for another quarter of a century.

The village of Preston was established on a downland site 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-northwest of Brighton before the time of the Domesday Book of 1086.

No trace remains of the building mentioned in the Domesday Book: it was rebuilt in about 1260 in flint with a chancel, nave and tower.

Sir Arthur Blomfield designed the church, and the Crawley-based building firm of James Longley built it.

[4] At the east end of the nave, where the roof profile changes, there is a small flèche made of wood and lead.

[4][9] Interior features include a sedilia, organ chamber, choir stalls, chancel screen, ornate multi-sided pulpit with green marble work, stone reredos designed as a triptych and depicting the Ascension of Jesus,[4] and a marble font depicting an angel kneeling with a shell.

[10] The parish was extended in the early 21st century after the closure of St Augustine's Church, which opened in 1896 on Stanford Avenue at the south end of Preston Park.