This second church to serve its parish stands on the site of its predecessor. The first building, dating from the 1890s, was a simple woodframe, board-and-batten structure, which the architect of the new church described as “of somewhat indefinite style,… closest to a vernacular ‘carpenter's gothic.’” In 1908 a tower was added to the front and the walls were shingled.
When the old church became structurally unsound, the vestry asked John Quattrone, then an architecture student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, to design its replacement. Aided by Sam Evans, an architect, and his halfbrother, Quattrone chose “neo-carpenter's gothic … as a stylistic reference for the new structure,… [preserving] as much tradition of the existing building as was practical.” The architects carefully preserved the altar and windows, to be reused in the new church. An octagonal tower with triangular-arched louvered openings in each face dominates the rectangular building. Both the church and tower are clad with unadorned vertical boards.
Typical of many Episcopal churches, Heavenly Rest makes a modest, unassuming appearance on Princeton's major street. Far more conspicuous is the earlier First Baptist Church across the way. Designed by Princeton architect A. F. Wysong in 1911 and completed in 1915, it has a large Ionic portico raised on a high foundation and approached by a broad flight of steps. The building, of yellow brick with limestone columns, is the familiar temple type often used for Protestant churches.