After the Chinese occupied , the Epiphany temple was closed, and Bishop Simon of Shanghai imposed an interdiction on the St. Nicholas Church, the Russian population of Shanghai was left without an Orthodox Church.
The late Bishop Simon, supported by the Russian Orthodox Brotherhood, rented the building next to the church under interdiction and arranged therein a residence and a house church.
On March 5th, 1927, an assembly of Russian people took place and money began to be collected to organize a church in the French concession.
A site on route Paul Henry was acquired and the construction of a Cathedral began.
In 1932 the Mission administration was finally transferred from to the Bishop's house - a 3-story building with a belltower on top.
Colonel A.I. Yaron, a military engineer, was the builder of the bishop's house. Archimandrite Fr. Makary was the priest-in-charge of the temple.