The Orthodox congregation in Valmiera formed in the 1920s when many Russian merchants, craftsmen and soldiers arrived in the city. St. Sergius of Radonezh’s Orthodox Church was built from 1874 until 1877 and its author, who is also the author of many other churches in Vidzeme and the southern part of Estonia, was the first academically educated Latvian architect Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis (1834–1891).
The St. Sergius of Radonezh’s Orthodox Church is built from split boulders and locally manufactured red bricks that are used for eaves, corners and cornices of the building.
The luxurious chapel of the Baltic German Mengden family,which that was built in 1906, stands next to the church.