In 1896, In 1860 Ballu was named architect of religious buildings for the city of Paris, and completed a series of other churches in the neo-Gothic style.

[5] The design of the basilica was copied by the architect Léon Vautrin for the construction of the facade of the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Guangzhou between 1863 and 1888.

The west front of the church is in the Flamboyant Gothic style; the spires of the two towers reach a height of seventy meters.

[6] The semi-circular chevet of the church, at the opposite end from the facade, is ringed by buttresses and pinnacles supporting the walls, modeled after those of a Gothic cathedral.

The outer aisles are separated from the nave by an arcade of tall classical pillars, which form poionted arches, and branch out into slender colonettes which reach upward to support the vaults of the ceiling.

The decoration of the Chapel of the Holy Cross includes red banners with Chinese characters, a reminder that the design of Saint-Clotilde was the model for the Sacre-Coeur church in Canton, China.

Competitions were announced, artists submitted sketches of their projects, and the winners were selected by the Commission of Fine Arts of the Paris prefecture.

It presents stained glass windows by Thibaut, paintings by Jules Eugène Lenepveu, sculptures by James Pradier and Francisque Joseph Duret.

A series of sculptures by Jean-Baptiste Claude Eugène Guillaume representing the conversion of Valerie of Limoges, her condemnation to death, decapitation and the appearance of Saint Martial.

[12] Following the Gothic tradition, some of the sculpture, like "Sainte Clothilde", (1854), was made of stone painted and gilded, with the addition of enamel and glass.

The wood carving of the choir stalls and the pulpit, like the other decoration of the church, was designed to capture the spirit of the Gothic art of the 14th century.

Many of the windows were created by the collaboration of artist d'Amaury Duval, and master glass maker Antoine Lusson (fils).

Abbé Bernard Bouveresse, a member of the Resistance, was parish priest and rector of Sainte-Clotilde from the post-war period to his death.