It was designed to provide a prominent landmark at the junction of two new boulevards built during Haussmann's renovation of Paris under Napoleon III.

[5] The chosen site was trapezoid-shaped lot at the intersection of four streets, which meant that the back of the church was wider than the front.

As late as 1995, one critic described the church as "an eyesore: ridiculously sited, without proportion, crushed beneath an outsized dome".

[7][8] Despite this, it is still considered a masterpiece of architecture of the Second Empire and is duly given the honour of Monument Historique by the French State[9] The church was built between 1860 and 1871 in an eclectic style combining Tuscan Gothic, Romanesque and Byzantine elements.

Saint-Augustin's facade features a frieze by sculptor François Jouffroy depicting Jesus and the twelve apostles above the four evangelists.

Over the altar is a ciborium or baldaquin, an open walled domed structure made of gilded cast iron, in the Renaissance style.

On the right side of the nave is a chapel dedicated to the soldier, geographer and priest Charles de Foucauld, who was converted to Christianity in the church in 1886.

The largest chapel is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and by tradition is located in the apse at the east end of the church.

The stained glass windows depict bishops and martyrs of the first centuries and the cast-iron columns are decorated with polychrome angels.

The church features paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Jean-Hippolyte Flandrin, Émile Signol, Alexandre-Dominique Denuelle and sculpture by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and Henri Chapu.

On top level, he used images of saints and martyrs, The stained glass of the windows on the dome over the choir are coloured with grisaille, heightened with jaune d'argent.