Designed in the Gothic Revival style by Augustus Pugin in 1847, the building is Grade II* listed with Historic England.

[2] The first purpose-built Roman Catholic place of worship in Fulham since the English Reformation, its foundation stone was laid by Bishop Thomas Griffiths, Vicar Apostolic of the London District in 1847.

Féret, the chronicler of Fulham, describes in detail the interior of the building, emphasising the reredoses of the two side chapels carved in Caen stone and the striking stained glass windows.

Among the notable burials in the churchyard are the following: Sir Thomas Henry, Chief Magistrate of London;[5] the politician Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox and his wife Emily; Mrs Elizabeth Bowden, benefactress of St Thomas's church and attached school, and her daughter; the architect Joseph Aloysius Hansom, designer of numerous church buildings including Our Lady of Dolours, Chelsea, as well as of the Hansom cab and founder of the influential journal The Builder; Herbert Gribble, architect of Brompton Oratory; and Joseph Scoles, designer of Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street.

[8] The war memorial, the tombstone of Warrington Taylor and the Harwath Mausoleum in this small walled cemetery are Grade II listed with Historic England.