The first church in the growing town of Grimstad was built in 1849 on a prominent hill overlooking the harbour. The new church was consecrated on 2 December 1849. The church was designed by the architect Wilhelm Hanstein. The church was not very large, so it was quickly outgrown by the town. There was also a cemetery surrounding the church, but just like the original church, it quickly filled up and it is no longer used. A new cemetery was opened in Frivoll in 1872 and it has been in use since that time. In 1881, the church building was disassembled and moved to the nearby parish of Nedenes and it was rebuilt to become the Engene Church (in present-day Arendal).[3]
After the old church was taken away, a new, much larger church was built in Grimstad and it was consecrated on 7 April 1881. The new church was quite large, making it the third largest wooden church in Norway (after Mandal Church and Vågan Church). Originally, the church was said to seat 1,150 but with today's fire codes, it is now said to seat up to 1,000 people.[3]
This was the first Neo-Gothic church in Norway to have its exterior paint examined in the 1960s. After discovering the original colors, the parish had the church repainted to its original colors of a light green with contrasting trim painted in yellow and red ochre.[1]
