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The church, situated 310 metres (1,020 ft) above sea level, dominates and forms part of the Steinhof Psychiatric Hospital. It is located on a hillside (the Baumgartnerhöhe) below the Galitzinberg in the 14th Vienna district, Penzing. It has a separate status as part of the surrounding hospital and does not form part of the Archdiocese of Vienna.

The church dedicated to Saint Leopold was built between 1903-1907 by the 63-year-old architect Otto Wagner, with mosaics and stained glass by Koloman Moser, and sculptural angels by Othmar Schimkowitz (1864–1947). The great majority of the other smaller details are the work of Otto Wagner himself. The statues on the two external towers represent Saint Leopold and Saint Severin (l. & r. respectively: they are the two patron saints of Lower Austria) and are the work of the Viennese sculptor Richard Luksch (1872–1936).

The central ceiling below the unseen dome bears images relating to the four evangelists: the man for Matthew, the lion for Mark, the calf for Luke, the eagle for John. The magnificent windows at the sides of the Kirche am Steinhof portray seven saints (named underneath each frame) fulfilling Christ's commands both temporal (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc.) and spiritual; with above them a pair of flying angels and a quotation from the Beatitudes. The elaborate and brightly-coloured mosaic behind the ornate altar represents the reception of the departed soul into heaven, via an ornate trompe-l'oeil staircase which has been compared unfairly to a Hollywood-style movie award ceremony. Among the numerous saints attending the ceremony is Saint Dymphna the patron saint of those afflicted by epilepsy or mental illness. Also visible is St. Clement Hofbauer or Clemens Maria Hofbauer (1751–1820), the patron saint of Vienna. The dome of the church is not visible from inside the building; even so, the nave has an echo of six seconds. The church, which seats 800 people when full, was reopened on the 1 October 2006, after the completion of the most recent extensive renovation work.