The Church of St Michael and All Angels, although originally built in 1886 to a design by Alexander Ross of Inverness – the architect of many fine buildings in Inverness and of churches throughout the Highlands – the extensive alterations made under the direction of Ninian Comper in 1904, 1905, 1923, 1924 and 1928 make him, without question, the true architect of St Michael and All Angels.

John Ninian Comper was born in Aberdeen on 10 June 1864, the eldest of the five children of the Reverend John Comper; Rector of St John's Episcopal Church, and his wife, Ellen, daughter of John Taylor; Merchant of Hull. His father was one of the most advanced priests in the Anglo-Catholic revival in Scotland.