Its strategic location on the first of the Casbah's stairways leading to the five gates of the city, lies in the aristocratic district where lived the rich and the famous royal family members of the Ottoman Regency, the politically prominent, and business magnates.

However, it was rebuilt by Hasan Pasha according to a commemorative inscription in the later part of the 18th century, when it was glorified as a structure of "unparalleled beauty.” At the orders of General Savary several hundred Algerians protesting this violation of grantee's given by a pervious French military commander General Bourmont were evicted at bayonet-point from the mosque in December 1831 before it was consecrated as the cathedral of Saint Philippe on Christmas Day, 1832.

After the liberation of Algeria from French rule, the cathedral's restoration as the Ketchaoua Mosque in 1962 is considered as "having significant religious and cultural importance," and it richly testifies to the history of "this mosque-turned-cathedral-turned-mosque".

[6] The rededication of the cathedral into a mosque was performed in the first year of Algerian independence, in a formal ceremony presided over by Tawfiq al Madani, the Minister of Harbours, held at the Ben Badis Square (earlier known as Lavigere).

The mosque overlooks the public square in the Casbah, with the sea in front; it has two octagonal minarets flanking the entrance, with Byzantine and Moorish design and decorations.

[4][6] In 2009, the Heritage Department of Algeria began improvements to the octagonal minarets, the central vault of the main fascia and the abutting staircase inside the mosque.

This plan, launched in September 2008, covers the renovation of several mosques in old Algiers and the conversion of a number of houses into libraries at an initial cost of 300 million Algerian dinars.