St Joseph's Church, Brighton

Elm Grove was built to connect the Lewes Road, which ran into the centre of Brighton, and Brighton Racecourse at the top of Race Hill. The road was laid out on the steeply sloping site in the 1850s, and rapid residential development occurred over the next decade. More houses were built later in the 19th century on the road itself and on streets running to the north and south, and by 1900 the area was densely populated. A Roman Catholic place of worship has existed at the bottom (west) end of Elm Grove since the late 1860s. Recent research has found that a temporary mission chapel, completed in 1869, stood on the site now occupied by St Joseph's. (Older sources suggested that the building…

The exterior of St Joseph's Church is of two types of stone: Kentish Ragstone (a type of limestone) with dressings of Bath Stone. The east end has three five-sided apses; the outer pair form side chapels. All three have windows with trefoil designs. The entrance is at the west end in a porch with a gabled roof. The chancel has seven bays and is separated from the nave by an intricate chancel arch. The nave has low, narrow aisles on the south and north sides. The church is very tall, and the roof is vaulted; the shafts are of pale brick and stone.

St Joseph's Church was listed at Grade II* by English Heritage on 19 July 1985. This status is given to "particularly important buildings of more than special interest". In February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove. The church is one of eleven Roman Catholic churches in the city of Brighton and Hove, and one of six in Brighton itself (there are also three in Hove and one each in Rottingdean and Woodingdean). It is responsible for the administration of St Francis of Assisi's church on the Moulsecoomb estate in northeast Brighton. Originally an Anglican place of worship, this was…