St Peter's Church, Brighton

St Peter's Church, Brighton
The church seen from the liturgical west
50°49′42.11″N 0°8′5.98″W / 50.8283639°N 0.1349944°W / 50.8283639; -0.1349944Coordinates: 50°49′42.11″N 0°8′5.98″W / 50.8283639°N 0.1349944°W / 50.8283639; -0.1349944
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Evangelical
Website	http://www.stpetersbrighton.org
History
Dedication	Saint Peter
Administration
Parish	Brighton, St Peter
Deanery	Brighton
Archdeaconry	Chichester
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s)	Archie Coates (from Sept 2009)

St Peter's Church is a church in Brighton in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is near the centre of the town, on an island between two major roads, the A23 London Road and A270 Lewes Road. Built from 1824–28 to a design by Sir Charles Barry, it is arguably the finest example of the pre-Victorian Gothic Revival style. It is a Grade II* listed building. It was the parish church of Brighton from 1873 to 2007 and is sometimes unofficially referred to as "Brighton's cathedral".

St Peter's Church was founded as a chapel of ease associated with Brighton's oldest church and its existing parish church, St Nicholas'. The contract to design the new church was won in open competition by Charles Barry, then only in his mid-twenties. It was built in an approximation of the 14th- and 15th-century Perpendicular or Late Gothic style, typical of the so-called Commissioners' churches, of which St Peter's was one. It was not a revival of its style in the manner of Barry's pupil Augustus Pugin, but, as Nikolaus Pevsner described it, "[it] remedies this fault by remarkable inventiveness and boldness".

The foundation stone was laid by the Vicar of Brighton, Rev. R. J. Carr dd, on 8 May 1824, at a location which was at the time "the entrance to the town" but which is now in the city centre, following the rapid development of Brighton since that date. The ceremony of consecration was led by the same man on 25 January 1828.