The Gothic Revival cathedral built of locally quarried redstone was designed by prominent Brooklyn, New York architect Patrick Keely.

Other local materials used in its construction were marble and slate from around Rutland and limestone from the Isle La Motte.

It was finished in 1904 under the direction of Bishop John Michaud who also commissioned the statue of Notre Dame de Lourdes that was placed on top of its blunted spire.

The statue was composed of vulcanized copper covered with gold leaf and stood 14 feet (4.3 m) tall.

[3] In 1974, New York City architect Edward Larrabee Barnes was chosen to design a new cathedral on the same property.

Barnes and Bevington used as inspiration the Billings Memorial Library at the University of Vermont, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson.

[1] The modern five-sided sanctuary is composed of low brick walls in bands of green and dark brown covered by a high standing seam copper roof, clerestory, and facade.

[5] The interiors and furnishings were designed by architect Toshiki Mori, who worked in the Barnes office at the time.

The trees visually shield the cathedral from its urban setting and create a sense of calm at a busy intersection.

[7] A free-standing steel bell tower near the corner of Cherry and St. Paul Streets is where the old cathedral was located.

The entire building and landscaping project was completed in March 1977 and dedicated on May 26 of the same year by Bishop John Marshall.

In April 2018 Immaculate Conception lost its cathedral status, and later in the year Bishop Christopher Coyne issued a decree relegating the building to secular use.