The church was built between 1649 and 1652 as a simple rectangular log chapel with a saddle roof and a north-facing sacristy, and it kept this modest form for over a century. Its present appearance dates from a thorough rebuilding in 1786-87, when the walls were raised and clad with boards, the roof took on its distinctive broken form, a new sacristy and stairwell to the organ loft were added, and the interior gained its panelling, pilasters and vaults. A further restoration in 1936, led by architect Einar Lundberg, aimed to reinforce the 1780s design, including a return to enclosed box pews.
Dalarö has stood at a crossroads of maritime life since medieval times, and piloting and customs work were long important local occupations; the church itself is said to have survived unscathed the fires that repeatedly struck the town. Notably, it lacks a bell tower - a freestanding wooden bell stapel, built in 1746 on a rocky outcrop outside the churchyard wall, holds two bells, the smaller reputedly dating from the church's earliest years.
Among the furnishings is a pulpit carved in 1630, originally made for Tyresö church but judged not fine enough there and given to Dalarö instead. Beside it hangs the church's oldest altarpiece, from 1654, depicting the Last Supper with portraits of its donors worked into the frame; the current altarpiece, a Baroque Crucifixion scene, was acquired in 1710. The font, made in 1936 by Einar Lundberg, is carved from black oak salvaged from the warship Riksäpplet, which sank in 1676.
Two votive ships hang in the church: one, dated 1652, is a model of the warship Göteborg, given by a local donor; the other represents the full-rigged ship Josefina, which was lost in 1887. The church's organ has been rebuilt and altered several times since the mid-nineteenth century, and the current instrument dates from the early 1980s, incorporating the facade of an earlier organ on the loft wall.