The square tower (from the city wall of the 2nd half of the 13th century) dominates the steeply sloping square (whose name derived from a nearby deer park). Ca 1550, when the bastions were erected, a new gate was built (with a curving passageway for better defense) and the pointed archway of the older gate was walled up.

In 1852, the tower at the Tiergärtnertor served as the first home of the newly founded Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Four streets fan out downhill from the square. On the square are the Pilatushaus, the house of Albrecht Dürer and, beyond the draw-well, the WW II Art Bunker.