Since the mid-19th century, San Remo has become known as a wonderful resort with a mild and warm climate, especially beneficial for people with lung diseases. During the winter season of 1874-1875, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of Alexander II, vacationed here, and in gratitude, she gifted the city palm trees for a new seaside boulevard. The city authorities named this promenade the Empress Avenue (Corso Imperatrice), and this name has been preserved to this day. After the empress, Russian nobility, including members of the Romanov family, began to come to San Remo for the winter months. In 1895, Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich, aged twenty, died of tuberculosis while receiving treatment here. In the 1890s, his older brother, Grand Duke Sergey Mikhailovich, often vacationed at Villa Flora, who, like Empress Maria Alexandrovna, was credited with the idea of creating a Russian church. Many aristocrats, such as the Olsufievs, Sheremetevs, Demidovs, and others, had their winter residences at the resort. Some Russian patients settled permanently in San Remo, where, for them, as well as for seasonal guests, a Russian bathhouse, bakery, and pharmacy appeared. By the end of the 19th century, the idea of building a church had finally taken root among the Russian residents of the city, but its realization was delayed due to a lack of funds. Until 1908, when the chapel of St. Nicholas was built at the city cemetery of Foce, services were held at Villa Gloria, previously owned by Ekaterina Chelishcheva. It was consecrated in 1898 using the antimins from the former field church in Menton. Two years later, permission was obtained to consecrate a permanent altar in the name of St. Catherine, as desired by Anna Strekalova, the daughter of the late Ekaterina Chelishcheva.

On December 21 (December 9 in the old style) 1912, Father Nikolai Aquilonov, in the presence of numerous townspeople, laid the foundation for the church in the name of Christ the Savior, St. Catherine the Great Martyr, and St. Seraphim of Sarov. The sketch project of the church was created free of charge by architect A. Shchusev, who worked in St. Petersburg, at the request of his cousin Anna Sukhanina, who lived permanently on the Riviera.