St Elisabeth's, built between 1881 and 1883, owes its existence to Sir William Houldsworth who commissioned Alfred Waterhouse to design the Church.

Waterhouse and Houldsworth seemed to have shared a vision of what an ideal church building should be. The magnificence and exotic atmosphere of the interior was a cause of considerable concern to the Bishop of Manchester who felt it too rich and continental, and was more than a little worried about the High Church services which he rightly assumed would be held in it.

St Elisabeth's cost Sir William over £20,000, a fortune at the time. We can bring this amount into a contemporary perspective if we reflect that the Church has now to be insured for over seven million pounds.

Waterhouse and Houldsworth used the finest craftsman and artists. The glass in the apse is by Kemp, and the windows in the clerestory by the Manchester Pre-Raphaelite, Frederick Shields. Earp was responsible for the carving, (all of which was drawn-out by Waterhouse), and the eight bells in the tower are by Taylor of Loughborough.

The granite columns of the nave were brought to Reddish by narrowboat, and transported from the canal wharf at the mill by carts drawn by elephants borrowed from a local zoo.

St Elisabeth's is Warehouse’s finest Church building, and we are aware of the great responsibility this heritage places on us as members of this Church today.