Architect A. W. Arppe designed the wooden church in 1831, placing it high on Koippurinmäki hill. The church tower, built in 1839, was drawn by C. L. Engel, who led the State Office of the Intendant and left his mark on the heart of Helsinki. Initially, the church was called Nikolai Church, after the then Russian Tsar Nicholas I, but the name has since fallen out of use.

The altarpiece, Christ in Gethsemane, was painted by Ingeborg Malmström, a poet and the wife of pastor Karl Robert Malmström. Suodenniemi Church has witnessed key moments in Finnish history, including events during the Civil War and World War II, when its tower served as an air surveillance post.