Before us is not just a parish church, but a monument to one of the most famous Russian empresses, representing an interesting example of baroque architecture. Today, it is also a center for English-language services.

The first wooden church on this site is mentioned in 1612, but it was likely founded earlier, at the end of the 16th century, in the Catherine's bleaching settlement. The stone temple existed since the mid-17th century with an altar dedicated to St. Nicholas. In 1763, Empress Catherine II ordered the construction of two churches in Moscow in honor of her accession to the throne: in the name of Saints Cyril and John on Solyanka (the palace coup occurred on the feast day of these saints) and in the name of her holy patroness on Ordynka. Both projects were developed by the famous architect Karl Ivanovich Blank. The construction of St. Catherine's Church on Bolshaya Ordynka was carried out in 1764 and 1767 at state expense.

The plan of the church complex has a three-part division: to the east, closer to Ordynka, is the main summer church of St. Catherine (also called the cold church, as it was not heated in winter), and to the west, deep within the property, is the winter church in the name of the Savior Not Made by Hands (called the warm church, as it had heating). They are connected by a bell tower, originally two-tiered, which was raised in the mid-19th century. The main church, created by K.I. Blank, is executed in the baroque style, topped with one dome on a wide cupola with four round windows. The icons for the church were painted by the outstanding artist Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky. A special decoration of the interior was the silver Tsar's gates in the baroque iconostasis. In 1870 and 1872, a warm Spasskaya church was added to the church, replicating the architecture of the main temple. The ensemble of the two churches and the bell tower acquired a completed appearance. The church fence with a forged grille, created in 1731 and originally located in Cathedral Square in the Kremlin, was gifted to St. Catherine's Church in the late 1760s.

The church was closed in 1931. Its interior decoration, including Levitsky's icons, was lost, but the frescoes and stucco in the dome were preserved. The bell tower was dismantled to the first tier, both churches lost their domes, and their premises were occupied by various offices. After restoration in the 1980s, the dome of the winter church facing Ordynka was restored. Since 1992, a gradual process of returning the complex to the community of believers has begun. In 1994, a representation of the Orthodox Church in America was established at the church, and now services are held in Russian and English. Restoration of the winter church and the reconstruction of the lost tiers of the bell tower are planned.