The church is located close to Lindenhof hill, site of the former Roman castle, and its origins date back to the time of the Romans. King Louis the German gave it to his daughters Hildegard and Berta, the first abbesses of the Fraumünster, when the abbey was founded in 857. In 1345, Rudolf Brun, creator of the Zürich guilds’ constitution and Zürich’s first independent mayor, acquired obligations and rights regarding St. Peter. Rudolf Brun was buried in the choir of the church in 1360.

There were four predecessors to today’s church: Pre-Romanesque – the foundations are still visible under today’s choir – from the ninth century, early Romanesque from the tenth century, late Romanesque from around 1230 (tower and choir preserved), late Gothic around 1450. During the Reformation, the altars of St. Peter were destroyed in the course of alterations in 1523. The current nave with its Baroque gallery hall was built in 1705.