The religious architecture has Manueline and revivalist Neo-manueline elements, consisting of a single-nave structure with a vaulted ceiling and surrounded by a modernist landscape, as evidenced by a preoccupation with choice of plants and manicured environment (completed by Gonçalo Ribeiro), in order to create a zone of protection for the hermitage.

On 20 March 1514, the first round of construction began with the excavation, transport, and assembly of the stonework to build the Church of Santa Maria de Belém.

Diogo Rodrigues, the supervisor and receiver-general for the project, paid Rodrigo Afonso 1,500 Portuguese réis for work completed on the Church of Saint Jerome.

In a 1572 engraving in the Atlas de Georgius Braun Agrippinensis the chapel is shown with a longer form, and flanked by buttresses, with three windows and covered in tile.

[3] In 1938, the Minstério da Guerra (Ministry of War) requisitioned the use of the property from the Direcção-Geral de Edifícios e Monumentos Nacionais (General-Directorate for Buildings and National Monuments or DGEMN) for their military exercises.

[3] Owing to its intrinsic historical value, on 26 September 1940 the space was classified as a Imóvel de Interesse Público (Property of Public Interest),[3] but on 1 November the passing of another ordinance suspended the previous classification.

[3] Recognising the need to safeguard the architectural significance of the hermitage, the municipal council of Lisbon enacted an urbanisation plan in 1953-1955 that isolated the chapel from other buildings and set a landscaping policy for the grounds.

Landscape architect Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles petitioned the city's Department of Studies and Projects in 1954 to be allowed to collaborate in the urbanisation plan for the outskirts of Restelo.

On 9 January 1956, an ordinance decreed the first Special Zone of Protection (Zona Especial de Proteção) for the hermitage, and In 1959 a campaign of cleaning and repairing the exterior stonework was begun, as well as levelling the adjacent lands.

Isolated in the urban context of Santa Maria de Belém, the hermitage is situated on a hilltop, with its southern flank acting as a lookout.

[3] The green, approximately 1 metre (3.3 ft) below the elevation of the chapel, is separated from the churchyard by a small wall, with the exception of the space immediately in front of the hermitage.

A stone staircase with various flights (in the Ducla Soares garden across from the Rua de Alcolena), connects the hermitage's first terrace to the Avenida do Restelo.

[3] The triumphal arch that separates the apse from the nave is sectioned by lateral colonnades, decorated with rosettes and surmounted by a coat-of-arms attributed to Saint Jerome.