It was built between 1884 and 1888, based on a design by engineer Francesco Agnesa, in what were then the outskirts of Sassari, an isolated area, at an equal distance from the hospital and the prison and opposite piazza d'Armi, where artillery practice took place at that time. After it had been founded, the parish church of San Giuseppe remained detached from the urban context for approximately twenty years, 'turning its back on it', while its façade faced the areas of the town undergoing expansion. Shortly before World War One, this isolation started to come to an end, with the progressive emergence of schools and other buildings.

The church's façade was undoubtedly inspired by the architectural Purism of the famous Gaetano Cima and by the Palladian church of San Giorgio in Venice (1556).