The cathedral is located at 56 Yide Road (in Chinese: 一德路56号), on the north bank of the Pearl River at the heart of the old district.

The site of the cathedral was originally the residence of the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces in the Qing dynasty.

[citation needed] Based on the terms of an imperial edict issued by the Daoguang Emperor in February 1846, which promised compensation for churches destroyed and properties taken from the mission, the Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris obtained the site by signing an agreement with the Qing government on January 25, 1861.

[citation needed] With financial support from Napoleon III and donations from French Catholics,[3] Bishop Philippe François Zéphirin Guillemin, M.E.P.

Humbert and another architect from Paris, Antoine Hermitte, who succeeds him at a later time, both travelled to China to oversee the construction of the cathedral.

On December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, with surrounding Chinese houses and streets decorated, a grand ceremony was held, attended by the Viceroy of Liangguang, all senior Mandarins, a detachment of 300 Manchu troops, all consuls in Canton as well as the missionaries and a score of priests.

Eventually the French employed a Chinese man named Cai Xiao (蔡孝) from Jiexi County as foreman.

Cai had many years of experience in building stone houses in his hometown, which enabled him to bring in a lot of unique and creative methods.

When bishop Guillemin met him in Paris in 1858, the emperor, urged by his wife Eugénie, offered a personal grant of 500,000 francs.

The aim of the restoration was to solve the problem of leakage by rebuilding the whole roof, which was the most challenging task as the rib vault below needed to remain untouched and intact.