Foundation The church was founded by
Canon John Gray and
Marc-André Raffalovitch. In 1901, Gray resigned as librarian at the
Foreign Office to become a priest of the Catholic Church. When he was
curate at
St Patrick's Church, Edinburgh, Gray with Raffalovitch as benefactor planned to build St Peter's Church. Raffalovitch was once part of Oscar Wilde's circle of friends.
Construction Perceiving the need for a new parish to serve Morningside, on 31 March 1905
Archbishop James Smith arranged for Fr Gray to leave his post at St Patrick's and take charge of the new parish of St Peter's. Gray engaged
Robert Lorimer to design the church in 1905. Lorimer also designed
St Andrew's Garrison Church in
Aldershot and
Knightswood St Margaret's Parish Church. Construction started in 1906 and the church was opened on 25 April 1907. In 1927, Robert Lorimer was knighted and the next year in 1928, work began to extend the
nave of the church, again under the direction of Lorimer. In 1929, it was completed.
Developments Following the liturgical reforms of the
Second Vatican Council, much of the church furniture, designed by Lorimer, was removed. The cast-iron
altar rails, which had fish motifs, were removed. The
altar, made of marble, has almost been completely lost. ==Parish==