During the Industrial Revolution masses of people moved from rural to urban areas including Paddington in west London. In 1855 the developer, Stephen Phillips, saw the opportunity to provide housing for the wealthy merchants associated with local commerce. Old picture of SSWPA major amenity or selling point for a development at this time would have been a grand church located at the heart of the community. (Such church buildings were enabled and encouraged by an Act of Parliament – ‘For Building and Promoting the Building of Additional Churches in Populous Parishes’; and it was under this power that most of the Church of England churches in Paddington were built.) St. Stephen’s was such a church and paved the way for the success of the surrounding housing growth.
The site was given partly by the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey and partly by Mr Stephen Phillips who also built the Crescent at the west end. To construct the building money came from three sources; the Paddington Vestry, local residents who gave generously and from the incumbent, the Rev’d H. W. Brooks.
The architects, the two brothers Frederick John Francis and Horace Francis chose a Gothic style. They also designed at least 20 other churches in London and the suburbs. (It is believed that St. Stephen’s is the last remaining example of their work in London.) Due to the construction of the Crescent and acute angle of the two merging roads the church is unusually sited with its altar at the west end rather than the traditional east. In the case of St. Stephen’s the Bishop of London sanctioned the arrangement. The interior, when completed, was a finely proportioned and satisfying evocation of a grand mediaeval church.
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