[7][8] In June 1915, architect Nicholas Serracino completed preliminary plans for a stone and brick church with an estimated cost of $35,000.

[12][13] The cornerstone for the church was laid on October 3, 1915, by Cardinal John M. Farley, the Archbishop of New York; the event was attended by more than five thousand Italian Catholics.

The parish also operated Immaculata High School, which was run by the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

"[3] In May 2015, the segment of East 33rd Street adjacent to the chapel was co-named "Father Damien Way" in honor of Father Damien, a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium who dedicated his life to helping people with leprosy (Hansen's disease) that were forced to live in exile on the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

A ceremony celebrating the co-naming of the street was attended by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan and Minister-President of Flanders Geert Bourgeois.

A prayer service was held at the chapel following the ceremony, which was led by Cardinal Dolan and attended by Bernardito Auza, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United Nations.

The chapel shares the name of Father Damien's religious order—the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary—and is also located near the New York Regional Hansen's Disease Center at Bellevue Hospital, which at the time was the location of the only treatment center for Hansen's disease in the New York City area.