The Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, located near Moskovskiy Prospekt, had been founded in 1777 in honour of the victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish in Chesme Bay and built in the pseudo-Gothic style by the famous architect Y. M. Felten. Chesme military cemetery can be found nearby.

The church has a compact "four leaf" centric plan. The basis of the interior space is a square covered with a dome. Semicircular rooms adjoin the square on four sides. Lancet arches rest on 4 pylons and unite these rooms into a single composition. The temple’s façade is formed with narrow vertical rods against the reddish background of the walls and high lancet windows. It is decorated with an openwork white stone ornament, a bas-relief on the pediment, lancet arches, a crenellated parapet and pinnacles. Five drums end in small domes with miniature spires attached to them. Each spire bears an apple with elegant openwork cross.

The interior of the church is simple and austere. The iconostasis is a restored copy of the iconostasis, created according to the drawing by Y.M. Felten.

During the Great Patriotic War the church, which had been on the front line of defense, was badly damaged. In the 1970s, the church building was restored and turned into a branch of the Central Naval Museum "Chesme Victory".

The revival of Chesme began in 1990. The Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist was transferred to the Saint Petersburg diocese, a parish headed by the rector, Archpriest Alexei Krylov. In 1998, the iconostasis was recreated according to the original design of the 18th century. In the same year, the church was fully consecrated by Metropolitan Vladimir of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga.

Currently, the church is an architectural monument of federal significance.