The village of Bălineşti is situated on the bank of the Siret River, the northern frontier of Romania. Some kilometres away is the town of Siret, which during the 1370s was for a very short while the capital of Moldavia. The village was first mentioned in written documents related to the church. According to the stone inscription on the south façade of the church, the founder of the church was Ioan Tăutu, the Great Chancellor (logofăt) of Stephen the Great. The church was in effect built as the private chapel of this powerful official on his estate. The church was completed on 6 December 1499, the day of the religious celebration of St. Nicholas, the patron saint. Traces of graffiti and the years inscribed on the tombstones of some of Tăutu's children, indicate that the construction of the church had started already some years before. The shape of the church is simple. The rectangular body with no side apses and a polygonal east apse was common enough during the time of Stephen the Great, but the rounded west end is unique. Some polygonal pronaoi, though, have been discovered in archaeological excavations, and the shape was again used later, in the 17th century. The southern side differs from the others: an open porch, with high gothic stone arcades, surmounted by a bell tower, is set around the entrance to the church. The last remaining traces of exterior paintings were executed during the time of Petru Rareş, 1535-1538. Judging from the beautiful images of St. Nicholas and The Archangel Michael, situated in two niches on the east apse, and from some traces of the paint layer on the same apse, the exterior painting must have been of remarkable quality. On the west end of the church, there are traces of The Last Judgment. This exterior painting was applied over the first decoration of the church façades, rows of brown, yellow and green enamelled ceramic discs. The discs were decorated with fantastic creatures taken from occidental bestiaries or with heraldic topics in relief.

This type of ornamentation is characteristic of Stephen the Great's epoch, and is absent after the end of his reign. An innovative feature in Bălineşti is the rich Gothic sculpture of the window frames, the church portal, and the south porch. The porch has a low balustrade on two sides, decorated on the outside with carved blocks of stone in flamboyant Gothic style, while on the inside there is a stone bench. This small porch, built at the same time as the church, is the only one of its kind among the Moldavian churches. Similar porches were added at a later date to some churches, e.g. in Suceviţa and Râşca.