There has been a large British community in Florence for a long time, known for its cultural wealth and heritage: artists, intellectuals, writers and women poets, businessmen and members of the aristocracy elected to live in the city of the lily (fleur the lis flowered). The British Protestant world expressed itself through many religious denominations and forms: the Anglican community was one of the most important voices and its first church was built on land purchased in 1843, on a plot that now stands between the current via La Marmora and via Micheli.

In 1877, the Anglican community split: those who did not identify in the position of Holy Trinity Church, the first Anglican Church in Florence, initially found a place in the new one in via de’ Serragli. In 1880, the Anglican Church of St. Mark’s moved to via Maggio, purchasing a building believed to have once been the home of the Sixteenth century historian, Niccolò Macchiavelli. The Reverend Charles Tooth had been called from Siena to divide the house and also designed the new church.

Many artists contributed to the decorations of the inner hall, and the result blended an English pre-Raphaelite style with references to the Florentine Renaissance. Services were held from 1881,  and in 1906 a neighbouring premise was purchased to extend the church.