A Victorian Romanesque Revival style building that houses both the church and a school, it is located on the corner of Cornwall Street and Secker Street, to the east of St John's Church, Waterloo.

It is served by the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual, and it is their only church in London.

From 1888 to 1905, Frederick Walters was working on the redecoration of St George's Cathedral, Southwark.

In 1897, St Patrick's church building was constructed to house both a school and a chapel for the local Catholic population.

However, Walters' original designs for the building, kept in the drawing collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects show that he wanted a tower attached to the building the church on the ground floor and the school on the upper floor.