TThe church of St. Luke lies on the Oxford Road, and Temple Road in Cowley, Oxford. It was a chapel of ease to the main parish of Cowley St. James, and was built in 1937-1938. Early services were held at the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at St. James Hall. All the money for its construction was provided by William Morris, Lord Nuffield. The architects of St Luke's were Harold Rogers and J. Max Surman.
In 1993, due to falling congregations, the decision was taken to close St. Luke's, and the church was de-consecrated in March 1994. After that time St Luke's either lay empty or was the home to temporary tenants, such as Libra, the drug and alcohol addiction counselling service.
In 1997 the Diocese formally offered the building to Oxfordshire Archives (which was the Diocesan Record Office) which was in need of larger premises. Following a conversion, Oxfordshire Record Office (formerly Oxfordshire Archives) opened to the public on 14th November 2000.
In a second phase of conversion in 2011, Oxfordshire Studies and Oxfordshire Health Archives also moved to St Luke's, to create Oxfordshire History Centre
The records of St. Luke's were originally deposited at the Bodleian Library in two instalments; most of the records were deposited in 1978. These were subsequently transferred to Oxfordshire History Centre. Further items were deposited in 1983 and October 2002 after the service of thanksgiving for St Luke's Church by members of the former congregation. Eight further accruals to the collections were received between March 2009 and September 2015
Catalogued by Robin Darwall-Smith in December 1996, and additions by Jenny Childs in October 2002 and by Mark Priddey in June 2010 and November 2022