When St Luke's church was first built, the area was sparsely populated and mainly comprised meadows cleared from woodland.

[3] Based on statistics from the UK census, the Diocese of Southwark estimates the population of St Luke's parish was 15,400 in 2001 and 16,500 in 2011.

These four "Waterloo churches", each dedicated to one of the four authors of gospels of the New Testament, were specified to have 1800-2000 sittings, vaults for burials, be constructed of brick with stone dressing and cost no more than £13,000 each.

[9] The builder was Mrs Elizabeth Broomfield of Walworth and the foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury on 14 April 1823.

At first the building was furnished with box pews, galleries and a triple-decker pulpit,[citation needed] with seating for a total congregation of 1,412.

To avoid blocking the windows, this was put at the end opposite the entrance, and the altar was placed against one of the long walls, with the pulpit and reading desk against the other.

[10][12] Thomas Allen in his History and Antiquities of the Parish of Lambeth (1827) wrote:Whoever looks at the exterior of this edifice will be greatly disappointed on entering it to find the church has been turned on one side; where he expects to meet with the altar he will find a gallery; if he looks for the pulpit, it meets his eye in an unusual and awkward situation, rendered still more apparent by its relative situation to the altar.

[10]In 1872-3 the building was extensively altered by G. E. Street, who dramatically rearranged the interior, creating a conventional chancel at the end opposite the entrance, and dividing up the nave with Romanesque arcades supporting a plaster barrel vault.

[14] The northern (i.e. lower level) part of the Churchyard was given to Lambeth Council soon after the Second World War and converted into a memorial garden to remember those who died in that conflict.

The southern (i.e. upper level) part of the churchyard is still owned by the Church but maintained by Lambeth Council.