The Church of Elijah the Prophet on Rusina Street, one of the landmarks of old Kostroma, was located at the beginning of the street, just behind the "Old Courtyard" hotel. Together with the Church of the Resurrection, located at what is now Soviet Square, it formed a kind of gateway at the start of one of the city's main thoroughfares. The stone Elijah temple was built in 1689 on the site of a previous wooden structure. It had a vaulted basement and consisted of a square base with a three-part altar apse, a spacious refectory, and a bell tower. Unlike the refectory, supported by four internal columns, the main volume of the temple, the square base, had no internal supports and was covered by a single vault with five domes, the central one being a lantern. The architectural decor of the temple combined ancient Russian motifs with elements of "Naryshkin Baroque," a popular metropolitan style at that time. In 1789, the temple underwent significant reconstruction. Instead of the decorative arches crowning the cubic volume of the square base, an attic with painted panels appeared, and the five-domed structure was altered. The facades and the interior of the refectory were updated, as well as the window frames on the side apses of the altar. The work was likely carried out by S.A. Vorotilov, a well-known Kostroma architect who was completing the Epiphany Cathedral of the Kremlin at that time. The third phase of construction work on the temple took place in the late 1820s. By 1829, a sacristy with spacious vestibules and an internal staircase leading outside to the altars was added along the southern facade of the square base. At that time, a new bell tower, known from photographs, was also erected. Three-tiered, with a spire, it stood 42.5 meters tall, located on the axis of the temple, to the west of it, at some distance. A covered passage was arranged between the refectory and the bell tower. The facades of the refectory were remodeled in the style of late classicism. In 1861, the refectory was expanded to the west by adding two new supporting columns. Two single-story volumes were added on either side of the bell tower, one of which housed a porch with stairs leading to the basement and to the level of the refectory. The street facade of the refectory was altered, and the windows received frames in the style of Russian antiquity. Later, the refectory was topped with an attic with a small dome, the facade of the main porch at the bell tower was remodeled, and a fence with massive pylons was installed. These works introduced some dissonance into the overall appearance of the building. Despite this, until its destruction in the early 1930s, the Elijah temple remained one of the most striking buildings in Kostroma, defining the appearance of the city center. In 1986, a sketch project for the restoration of the Elijah Church was prepared, based on architectural measurements of the preserved parts of the building and old photographs. The restoration project for the bell tower is considered the first stage of work for the revival of the entire temple, which is to be continued. After the destructions of the 1930s, the temple retained the refectory with the basement and the lower tier of the bell tower with two annexes. In the southern annex, facing the courtyard, a toilet was arranged during the Soviet years. Of the four pediments of the lower tier, one has survived, on the western side. There is a stone staircase in the southern wall leading to the upper tiers, which has not yet been surveyed. Its exit is covered by a later iron roof. The walls of the bell tower are made of red brick on a lime-sand mortar. The technical condition of the building does not raise concerns.