The constant increasing of Hackney's population meant that galleries were added to the church, and by 1789 it was able to hold a congregation upwards of 1,000. This was still inadequate to the needs of the parish, and on the advice of architect William Blackburn, the vestry petitioned Parliament in 1790 for the church's complete rebuilding at an adjacent site to the north. Blackburn died suddenly in November 1790; James Spiller, a friend of John Soane, was chosen from six architect candidates to replace him as designer of the new church.