All Souls was a Commissioners' church, a grant of £12,819 (equivalent to £ in ) being given by the Church Building Commission towards the cost of its construction. The commission had been set up under an act of 1818, and Nash, as one of the three architects employed by the Board of Works, had been asked to supply specimen designs as soon as the act was passed. It was, however, one of only two Commissioners' churches to be built to his designs, the other being the Gothic Revival St Mary, Haggerston. All Souls is the last surviving church by John Nash.