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Building at current mission site began in 1771, after Father Serra moved the mission away from the Presidio in Monterey. This mission was to be Father Serra's headquarters, so he took charge of the building himself.

Unlike other missions sites, there were a lot of trees around Carmel Mission, so building was easy. The first buildings (except the church) were made of logs stuck in the ground and standing vertically, with more logs across top covered with sticks and grass to make a roof. The first church was a brush hut. All the buildings were surrounded by a pole fence.

The next church at Carmel Mission was built by Father Palou while Serra in Mexico. It was made of logs and tule reeds, and was finished by 1776, along with fathers' quarters made of adobe and a separate kitchen A new adobe church was finished in 1782.

After Father Serra died in 1784, Father Lasuen decided to build a new stone church in 1793. Because Fathers Serra and Crespi were buried in the old church, they didn't want to move them, so they built the new church in the same spot. A master brick-layer from Mexico named Manuel Ruiz supervised construction. The church was finished in 1797, and it is unusual among  missions because of its design. The walls curve inward, and the ceiling follows the curve of the walls to form an arch (called a catenary arch). The bell tower has Moorish influence. Carmel mission is also one of only three California missions built of stone, its native sandstone quarried from the nearby Santa Lucia Mountains.

A burial chapel was added to the church in 1821.

After secularization, the mission roof collapsed 1851, and the building stood roofless for thirty years. In 1884, Father Angelo Casanova, the pastor at Monterey, raised money to repair and re-roof for one-hundredth anniversary of Father Serra's death. They built a wood-and-shingle roof on the church, with a high peak that made the building look odd. It stayed that way until 1936, when a roof like the original was rebuilt.

Harry Downie started working at  the mission repairing broken statues, and he got so interested in the old building that he started research and began restoring the whole mission in 1931. In 1939, he found the remains of the original cross buried in the patio. He created a replica, and placed it where he found the remains. He was supported by father Michael O'Connell, who became pastor of Carmel Mission after 1933, and it took him fifty years to complete the job.

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