On the site of the modern church, two wooden churches were built for gunsmiths in the 17th century. In 1730 and 1734, a new large two-story church appeared in their place. Its founder is considered to be the son of Nikita Demidov, Akinfiy Demidov. The church was originally built according to a traditional plan: the altar, main volume, refectory, and bell tower were arranged along the east-west line. However, on October 3, 1730, the newly built bell tower, likely located above the Demidov burial site, collapsed, resulting in the death of fifteen people and injuries to nine others. Later, the bell tower was rebuilt separately on the other side of Nikolsky Lane, now Oruzheynyy. The church building has a rectangular shape, is greatly elongated, with a raised middle part. The architectural composition, resembling a palace more than a cult structure, and the decorative embellishments relate the church to St. Petersburg Baroque of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The four-sided curved dome is topped with a decorative lantern with a picturesque cupola. In the lower, warm floor, there were altars in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, while the upper, unheated floor was dedicated to the Nativity of Christ. By the early 20th century, another chapel dedicated to St. Tikhon of Kaluga appeared in the church. In 1734, a chapel-vault was arranged on the first floor of the church for the burial of members of the Demidov family.

The bell tower, which once had clock chimes, differs in style from the church. It retained the typical scheme of high pillar-like octagons on a square base, characteristic of the bell towers of Yaroslavl and Suzdal from the 17th century. The top of the bell tower consists of stepwise decreasing octagons instead of the usual tent. In the 19th century, the bell tower had 13 bells, the largest of which weighed over four tons. A metal gallery with an ornate lattice connected the bell tower and the second floor of the church, existing until 1779. In the 1770s and 1780s, the building underwent repairs and reconstructions. On May 2, 1779, a large fire occurred in Zarechye, damaging the Nikol-Zaretsky church, especially its roof, upper church, and gallery. The fire caused damage to almost all parishioners, so the restoration took several years. By 1803, the entire church with the porch was painted. Besides the Demidovs, among the benefactors of the church were representatives of other well-known Tula families, such as Andrey and Ivan Rodionovich Batashovs, who helped restore the church after the fire. Contributions to the church were also made by gunsmiths Lyalins, Korotkovs, merchants Zverev, Belousov, and others. In 1862, a new iconostasis was installed in the upper church to replace the old one, which had fallen into disrepair. 2300 rubles for this were donated by the rector of the church, Archpriest Ioann Myasnovsky. In 1914, a wrought-iron fence on a white stone base appeared along Demidovskaya Street and Nikolsky Lane, which bordered the church property from the west and south. The church had an orphanage, where four elderly women lived in the early 20th century. The almshouse at the Nikol-Zaretsky church was mentioned as early as 1782. A church-parish school operated at the church since 1894. According to the main altars, the church was called either Nikolskaya or Christ-Redeemer, "that behind the Upoy River" or "that in the Kazennaya Sloboda." In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its official name was Christ-Redeemer, located on the Oruzheynaya side. However, the people referred to the church as Nikol-Zaretsky or Nikol the Rich. In Soviet local history literature of the 1920s and early 1930s, the church was called Nikol Kazenny. In one of the documents from 1930 regarding the use of the church after its closure, it was referred to as Nikol Zeleny due to the color of the facades. The church lent its name to Nikolsky Lane, renamed Oruzheynyy in 1924. In 1924, the church was included in the list of churches and monasteries of the Tula province registered with the department for museums and the protection of monuments of art and antiquities of the People's Commissariat of Education. The first decision to close the church was made by the Tula authorities in 1930. The building was intended to be transferred to the Society for the Assistance of Defense for the organization of a Chemical Defense House. However, believers appealed to the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, and the presidium of this supreme body canceled the decision to close the church. The Nikol-Zaretsky church was closed after a secondary decision on August 13, 1934. After that, open looting of the church occurred over two days, only stopped by the delayed intervention of the police. The church housed various organizations at different times, including "Zagotzerno," which used the building as a grain storage facility, the Avtodor training center, housing services of the Zarechensky district, and a warehouse for the supply base of the Tula trust of canteens. Part of the church was allocated for housing. Two families also lived in the lower tier of the bell tower. The complex of the Nikol-Zaretsky church was placed under state protection in 1960 according to a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR as a monument of history and culture of federal significance. In 1978, in anticipation of the Olympics, restoration of the church began without project and technical documentation. During the work, the external surfaces of the walls lost remnants of plaster decor. In the early 1980s, specialists from the Moscow institute "Spetsproektrestavratsiya" began developing a restoration project, examining the condition of the wall paintings. However, the project remained unfinished. In 1995, a restoration project for the Nikol-Zaretsky church was developed, worked on by Tula architect V. Klimenko, Vladimir architect V. Fomin, engineers and scientists from Tula State University, as well as specialists from Suzdal. The original drawings and project of the church have not survived, so the developers of the restoration project used old photographs and materials available in the State Archive of the Tula Region. In 1996, the church was hastily restored for the celebration of the 850th anniversary of the first mention of Tula in the chronicles and the 340th anniversary of the birth of Nikita Demidov. The results of this haste and insufficient funding became apparent just a year or two later when plaster began to fall from the walls, the foundation collapsed in places, and sheets of roofing iron flew off the roof. In 1999, in anticipation of the Nativity of Christ holiday, the church was transferred to the Tula diocese. Its roof was repaired with funds from parishioners and benefactors, but it was not possible to completely eliminate the shortcomings of the hasty restoration. On March 29, 2004, seven bells made in Voronezh using ancient Russian masters' technology were raised to the bell tower of the Nikol-Zaretsky church. The lower church with three altars was also restored. In 2006, the altar in the name of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called was consecrated, in 2007 the altar in the name of the holy royal martyrs Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexius, and in 2008 the main altar in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. Work is underway to improve two columns, at the foot of which octagonal floor icons will be installed. A Sunday school and library operate at the church. Spiritual conversations with adults are held on Sundays. In 1996, the historical and memorial museum "Necropolis of the Demidovs," a branch of the "TOIALM" association, was opened. It is located in a one-story former residential building built in the late 1920s on the territory of the church garden. The museum includes an introductory hall with an exhibition "Demidovs and the Tula Region" and the intra-church family burial vault of the Demidovs in the Nikol-Zaretsky church. This is the only surviving intra-church burial of representatives of the first generations of the Demidovs in Russia.