[2] The church was commissioned by a growing Orthodox community consisting of Rusyns, Russians, Serbs and Greeks of Chicago, Illinois, and stands within the neighborhood known today as Ukrainian Village.

The church retains many features of Russian provincial architecture, including an octagonal dome and a frontal belltower.

It is believed that the emigrants wished the church to be "remindful of the small, intimate, rural buildings they left behind in the Old World".

[3] Archival references point to a small wooden church in the Siberian village of Tatarskaya as a particular inspiration for the final design.

[4] To this traditional Russian basis of the overall design, Sullivan added decorative elements more characteristic of his own larger corpus of work, influenced by the Art Nouveau and Arts and Crafts movements, as seen, for example, in the decorative design over the western entrance to the church, the window and roof framing, and the bell tower and cupolas.