The college was founded and endowed by Michael Gutteridge, a Methodist businessman in Naples, well known in Italy for philanthropy. After four years at 2 Brookside, Cambridge, in co-operation with Cheshunt College, it moved in 1925 to its present site, which was purchased from Jesus College. The principal's house was completed in 1929, and the chapel, which originally contained paintings by Harold Speed, in 1930. The buildings were designed by Maurice Webb. The garden was designed in 1925 by Sir Aston Webb in a Tudor revival style. The chair of Systematics and Pastoral Theology was held by the first principal, Dr. Henry Maldwyn Hughes, from 1921 to 1937. He was the author of several works on Christian belief. That of New TestamentLanguage and Literature was held by the Revd Robert Newton Flew from 1927 to 1937, when he succeeded Hughes both as principal and professor. One of the earliest students was Donald Soper. Flew, principal up to 1955, was one of the moving forces behind the establishment of the World Council of Churches. Another alumnus was Bolaji Idowu, who headed the Methodist Church Nigeria from 1972 to 1984. The three-sided court fronted by iron gates and railings became enclosed in 1973 by a new building housing flats for married students and a lecture theatre. This building no longer belongs to the college.
New buildings
On 1 September 2014 the Jesus Lane site was sold back to Jesus College and a long lease on the eastern part of the site taken out by the Trustees of Wesley House. The Principal's House and Chapel were retained, whilst a new gatehouse building containing a library, dining hall and teaching rooms were constructed in Jesus Lane, as was a block of student accommodation at the back of the site. The new buildings were opened in the 2016–2017 academic year in a ceremony featuring HRH Prince Edward, an alumnus of next-door Jesus College.
Operation
The College is administered by a board of trustees. There is room for some 28, mostly graduate students, and for guests. The present Principal is Rev. Dr Jane Leach, who has written on faith development and pastoral care. Students working for the degrees of BTh, BA, MPhil and PhD are attached to a secular Cambridge University college or to Anglia Ruskin University, alongside Wesley House. Wesley staff serve as associate lecturers of the university and deliver courses developed in-house. Wesley House produces an academic journal, '', featuring peer-reviewed items of interest to Methodist scholars. It works in partnership with several other Methodist institutions worldwide, including Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary in South Africa, Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC, Kenya Methodist University, and the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia.
