Description:St Luke's Church in Bristol Street is seen here in a photograph dating from the very end of the 19th century. This is old St Luke's Church which was pulled down at this time and replaced by a new one. A writer in the 1890s comments on its dilapidated appearance, caused by 'the extremely friable nature of the stone', but adds that it was by no means an ugly church in spite of its 'early decay'. The church was in the Norman style and cost £3,700 to build. St Luke's was the third church to be built by the Birmingham Church Society, soon after its foundation in 1838, but clearly the standard of construction left something to be desired if the building needed to be replaced by 1900.