"Located rue Droite, in Old Nice, in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes), the church became parish in 1802 under the name of Saint-Jacques-le-Majeur.
The church is of Baroque architecture. Historians who have studied the building, such as Cigala, have compared the architecture of the church to that of the Church of the Holy Martyrs in Turin and the Church of the Gesù in Rome. The architect was influenced by Piedmontese Baroque with the constraints of the Roman building, the typical Jesuit church, spearhead of the Tridentine reform.
The facade is Corinthian. The presence of a Mannerist decoration on the façade with the Serlian has made historians think that it was from the 17th century. Some elements of the decor are neoclassical.
The bell tower is 42 meters high. It is in bare brick, which is rare in Nice, and links it to Piedmontese art. Its cap is covered with chipped polychrome tiles in a Ligurian fashion.
The stucco decoration brings the church closer to that made for the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata del Vastato in Genoa by Della Porta and Scorticone. However, we note that it is less close to Ligurian mannerism and that it marks a transition towards the Piedmontese Baroque style.
Inside there is a semi-circular vault 36 meters long and 14 meters wide. It is decorated with motifs illustrating the life of Saint Jacques le Majeur, which was made at the beginning of the 19th century on the drawings of the Nice painter Hercule Trachel (1820-1872) who also painted the vaults of the church of the monastery of Cimiez."