A stone church in a settlement of silversmiths has been known since 1657. From 1764 to 1768, an owner of the neighbouring estate Athanasiy Goncharov built a bell tower with a church of St. John the Baptist in its lower tier to the west of the above mentioned church.
The main church was rebuilt in 1781 with contribution from T. Surovshchinskaya. The refectory and apse were evidently finished in 1891, when the refectory was enlarged. The Church had side chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan and St. Basil the Great.
The whole appearance of the Church is determined with monumental architecture of the early Classical period. A single principle cornice underlines the wholeness of the big rectangular volume. Big order pilaster galleries entirely fill its southern and northern facades. Upper and lower windows are joined with vertical niches. However, a crowning feigned octagonal (a rectangular volume with cut blind corner facets) and a low refectory, also with cut corners, are rather typical of late Baroque. A small dome upon a thin faceted drum, lying window ovals of the octagonal and its detailed stucco decor, as well as rounded corners between forechurches and the apse are also characteristic for this style.
It is supposed that some parts of the quadrangle's walls and a high basement of the original building have survived. An external staircase leading to the Church is joined to the building from the lane side.
The most whole and artistically expressed part of the ensemble is the bell tower, one of the best works of the mid-18th-century Baroque in Moscow. It was constructed as an independent church that hid the parish. It is obvious that its luxury appearance was directly related to customer's requirements. The bell tower stands on the street line, very close to his house. Complicated broken surface of the lower tier, abundance of columns, sharp silhouettes of cornices, and broken pediments create rich and plastically expressive look. It was especially bright among small and closely placed buildings near Yauzsky Bridge of that time.
In its turn, a simple and clear silhouette of the upper tier and a slim faceted drum with a dome, resembling the Church's end, is still one of the main historical vertical compositions of the surrounding area and competes with a spire of the Moscow Orphanage built during the same years. The bell tower used to feature a chiming clock.
The other name of the Church, given after its high altar, is the Transfiguration Church in Bolshaya Ordinka (or "in Ordintsakh"). It was first mentioned in the 1571 chronicle, when the Church was dedicated to St. Barlaam of Khutyn. The Church was founded in the time of Metropolitan Barlaam, in 1523. The altar of the Transfiguration has been known s...
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