The Buddhist Church of Bakersfield is a one-story, light gray clapboard structure. Double doors lead directly into the chapel area, and a door off the porch to the south leads to a hallway that runs between the meeting room to the north, and to six small rooms to the south. A short, tower-like appendage above the porch is formed by the porch columns which extend through the porch roof. The large main room has a tatami floor covered by canvas-like material, on which the judo dojo practices. A screen toward the back of the room closes off the Buddhist altar.
Walls are plaster, but the ceiling in the large main room has been covered with plywood.
The small rooms off the hallway are used as office space and dressing rooms for the judo dojo. The church altar, the oldest in the United States, was disassembled and shipped to Bakersfield from Japan, then reassembled and installed in the church. It is a fine example of the craftsmanship employed in construction of a religious altar without the use of nails. A small rock garden is found at the northeast corner of the building, along with bamboo plants, trees, and shrubs. The Bakersfield Buddhist Church and the St. Andrews Methodist Church are the last institutional remnants of a once-thriving Japanese community in this area where more than 400 Japanese once lived.