Our buildings

The Church of the Holy Spirit was originally known as the Canon Greene Memorial Church and owes its existence to one very bold and visionary man, Canon Charles Philip Greene, the Rector of Holy Trinity Church which stands on the north side of Clapham Common.

Canon Greene was born in Ireland in 1840 but emigrated to Australia at an early age. Having graduated from the University of Sydney, he took Holy Orders and ministered in Australia until he was invited to become Vicar of Coggeshall in Essex. He became Rector of Clapham in 1885 but continued to take a close interest in Australia and to welcome people from all over the then British Empire to the Rectory.

At the end of the nineteenth century, as the grand old houses that had stood along the south side of Clapham Common were being demolished and replaced by the terraced houses we know today, Canon Greene saw the need for a new church to serve the many new people who were coming to live along the Southside of the Common as the population rose from a few hundred to around 7,000.