The first mention of the Savior Church dates back to 1628, when a vacant church site was noted in the land registry for Kostroma, where the Church of the Merciful Savior of the Origin of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross once stood. In the 1760s, merchant Stefan Semyonovich Belov built a stone Savior temple in the pre-Petrine architectural style: five-domed, without pillars, and with a single apse. The temple was consecrated in 1766.

In 1787, the city magistrate, following the new master plan of 1781, decided to build a Trading House. The chief architect of the province, K. Kler, developed a project in which the church was located inside the Red Rows of the Trading House. At that time, the old church bell tower was dismantled. Architect S. A. Vorotilov, who received the contract for construction, erected a new bell tower in the late Baroque style in 1791-1792. He also added a colonnade and a bell tower above the gates from the Volga side. K. Kler, upon visiting Kostroma at the completion of the construction, believed that Vorotilov's changes spoiled the project and made the bell tower unreliable. The matter went to court, but in November 1792, Vorotilov died, and his son Pyotr and brother Yefrem completed the work.

In the early 19th century, in 1803 and 1808, a warm chapel in honor of the Protection of the Holy Virgin was added to the temple. In the early 20th century, a priest and a psalmist served in the church.

In 1929, the Savior Church in Ryady was closed. From 1930, an anti-religious museum was located in its premises, but by the end of the 1930s, the bell tower and domes were dismantled, and the church was used as a warehouse. In 1974 and 1976, architects L. S. Vasilyev and V. S. Shaposhnikov restored the bell tower and domes, but without crosses. In 1992, the crosses were installed. From 1986 to 2007, the church housed an exhibition hall of the historical and architectural museum-reserve. Since 2007, the church has been transferred to the diocese.

Before the revolution, the church housed an icon of the Origin of the Honorable Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, adorned with gold, silver, pearls, and precious stones. The image of the holy martyrs and confessors Guriy, Samon, and Aviv was also venerated here.