[1] Located nearby the medieval Neumarkt quarter, the church that commonly is named Predigerkirche was mentioned for the first time in 1234 AD as the Predigerkloster monastery of the Dominican Order.

[2][3] Initially, against the resistance of the Grossmünster canons, the Dominican's inclusion in Zürich was granted in 1233/1235, because they tirelessly drove the little foxes in the vineyard of the Lord.

[4] The monastery consisted of a Romanesque church at the same place as today, and the monastic buildings built around the adjointed cloister to its west.

[1] The convent was abolished on 3 December 1524, the worship in the church was discontinued, and the buildings and income of the monastery were assigned to the Heilig-Geist-Spital, then an hospital of the city of Zürich.

The French revolutionary troops allowed again the Catholic worship, but after only two years, the parish was reverted into a Reformed church on 17 October 1801.

Different than from those in the south of the Alps, where transepts in the churches of the mendicant orders were common, in the north that kind of architecture was largely not used after 1250.

The first Predigerkirche in Zürich also shows that the "Preachers" in this early period were no more a poor itinerant order, which had built small churches for their own needs, the needs of just monks.

[2] Historical events explain that change: the revolution of 1336 that Rudolf Brun and his entourage brought to power,[3] was followed by a period of economic uncertainty reaching its peak with the plague of 1348/49, the persecution and killing of the Jewish citizens of the so-called Synagogengasse in 1349,[8] as well as the "Zürich night of murder" (Mordnacht) in 1350, a failed counter coup of Brun's opposition under the son of Johann I (Habsburg-Laufenburg),[3] Johann II.

The latest dendrochronological provisions on wooden spire show that this wood was hit in 1628, and the roof turret was built in 1629, followed by several repairs.

The pediments over the open belfry are crowned with golden knobs, and the roof spouts are decorated with Gargoyles from painted copper sheets.

The bell is attached with metal bands, which are vertically inserted into the oak basement and into 35 centimetres (13.78 in) horizontal flat iron passes.

To produce the transverse force connections to the bell axis, it is linked to the outlying platings and under the belfry floor fixed with wooden screws.

The reconstruction was carried out from 1609 to 1614 in the early Baroque style – this construction essentially repeals the present appearance of the church building and its interior.

The conception of this sermon space, and the pulpit placed in the middle of the front wall above the baptismal font, was the model for many churches.

But the wooden vault above the nave weakened the structure of the church, so that in 1663, in terms of emergency, the still existing powerful buttresses had to be built, to support the southern facade.

After the construction of the new hospital in 1842, they became the so-called "Versorgungsanstalt" where chronically ill, old and incurable mental patients were housed; the contemporaries complained unsustainable states were solved in 1870, when the Burghölzli sanatory was built.

[1][3] On occasion of the renovation, the still preserved northern transept arm of the Romanesque church was demolished and three new tracery windows were inserted in the so far windowless exempted choir.

The northern part of the church, that was detached since the demolition of the cloister buildings, also was new designed by adding aisle windows and pilasters.

The hexagonal roof turret's pointed helmet had to be stabilized, and many components were in poor condition, the shingles were very brittle, there were cracked sheet metal seams, and the copper plate did not keep even slight pressure.

[9] In 2012 the choir building's owners, including Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Predigern (church congregation) and Zentralbibliothek (central library), and the city of Zürich's departments of Praktische Denkmalpflege' and Archäologie des Amts für Städtebau, commissioned the Gugler construction company to repair the roof's skylights during the summer season.

The wooden surfaces of the tower threshold ring, the moisture damage and the weakened old anchoring system of hexagonal roof turret-pointed helmet, required extensive reinforcements and repair measures, so that the existing bell bearings could be obtained.

[9] The new roof shingles of the bell tower consist of radially to the root-derived spruce wood, which has been pressure treated prior to assembly.

The shingles were placed on the hexagonal spire and the tower shaft offset strengthened with 0.8 millimetres (0.0315 in) thin lead plates, so-called nouques.

The first early Baroque Protestant church in the southern German culture area is mentioned in 1614, so it is assumed that the organ may have been re-used.

[12] The organ in the gallery was built by Paul Hintermann and Jakob Schmidt on behalf of Kuhn Orgelbau in 1970:[13] The slider chests instrument has 46 registers on three manuals and pedals.

The door jambs and the lintel (repurposed grave plate) were installed with other masonry work during the 14th century construction of the choir building.

On 28 June 1914, the citizens of Zürich agreed to the establishment of the Zentralbibliothek, that was according to the plans by Hermann Fietz was built between 1914 and 1917, situated at the former site of the old monastery buildings.

The book magazine built on the place of the old cloister, now directly connected to the Gothic choir and making the 1871 exemption for the time being reversed.

As a result, the doorway was isolated respectively obsolete, and therefore separated from the church with a 25 centimetres (10 in) thick brick wall.

The music collection is released under the label "Musik aus der Zentralbibliothek Zürich", as well as "Mittagsmusik im Predigerchor" for the Predigerkirche pipe organ concert series recordings.