The church is built on the order of A. Menshikov apparently by I. Zarudny. It belongs to the stepped church type common for Moscow architecture of the end of the XVII century, but is worked out in absolutely new, quite European forms. Originally the church quadragle carried the open arcuated octagons topped with a 30 meters spire with an angel's statue. The building overtopped Ivan the Great Bell Tower in Kremlin for more than tree meters. During the fire of 1723 the top wooden octagon and the spire burnt down, the bells hanging in the stone octagon fell down having pierced the vaults. Longtime the church remained empty and was reconstructed only in 1770-s. In the beginning of the XIX century the two remained octagons were covered with a dome with a considerably shortened "twisted" spire.
During the working-out of the walls there was used the classical order. The entrances to the church have the form of porticos supported by columns with straight and spiral cannelures. The small order of the porticos corresponds to the big order of the ground level of the building. The massive voluted buttresses of the western facade are very impressive. The octagons' angles have twin piers. Originally the church was richly decorated with sculptures that later were partially dismounted. The interior preserves fragments of the original sculptural decoration. In 1968 the iconostasis of the XVIII century was given to the Makhachkala Dormition Cathedral, where it stayed till the early 2000. The present iconostasis is attributed to the XIX century. It comes from the demolished Ss. Peter and Paul cathedral at the Preobrazhensky settlement.