St Bartholomew's Church, dedicated to the apostle Bartholomew, is an Anglican church in Brighton, England. The neo-gothic building is located on Ann Street, on a sloping site between Brighton railway station and the A23 London Road, adjacent to the New England Quarter development. It is notable for its height – dominating the streets around it and being visible from many parts of the city – and its distinctive red-brick construction. History and construction The Revd Henry Michell Wagner, who had occupied the position of Vicar of Brighton since 1824, died in 1870, giving his son, the Revd Arthur Douglas Wagner (the curate of St Paul's Church in West Street), the opportunity to continue and improve his father's proposals for new parish churches in Brighton. He undertook three such schemes in the 1870s, two in conjunction with his two half-brothers, but Saint Bartholomew's is the only church which was his sole responsibility throughout. In 1868, Arthur Wagner had built a temporary church on Providence Place, a back street parallel with the main London Road, along with a school accommodating 400 pupils. After his father's death, he resolved to build a more impressive new church in the same area. The original plan, which was submitted to the Town Council in 1871 and approved on 7 June of that year, consisted of a combined church and school building, in length, wide, and high. This was amended shortly afterwards to reduce the number of bays in the interior from 13 to 11½; the additional space formed a "courtyard" area between the church and the existing school building, which was to be retained. Building work began on 8 February 1872; but Wagner's plans changed again, in favour of a significantly taller structure. When they were submitted on 16 September 1873, the revised plans reduced the length to , but widened the building to and, most significantly, proposed a height of to the ridge of the roof. The cross on the roof at the south end (the liturgical west end) adds a further to this. Construction based on the new plan started shortly after its submission, and continued for 19 months. The official opening was on 18 September 1874, while building work was still taking place; and with entirely free seating throughout (for up to 1,500 worshippers) it became the first church in Brighton to offer universal free entrance from the date of opening. This was