The original buildings were constructed in 1851-2 by John Bevan with Jonathan Clarke, in a Gothic Revival style.

St Matthias was home to departments within the faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education, including: The campus has some Victorian Gothic buildings, and is set around a quad.

The University of the West of England closed the campus in September 2014 (with operations on the site ceasing on 4 July 2014) as a part of a relocation project.

[3] The various departments of the faculty of Creative Arts, Humanities and Education from St Matthias and Bower Ashton have moved to new facilities at Frenchay campus.

[5] In March 2014 it was announced that, subject to planning permission, the site would be sold and redeveloped by Barratt Developments for housing and the listed buildings would become a Steiner School.