The archery tower of the Zhengyangmen Gate is a ceremonial and defensive building in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The east, south, and west sides of the archery tower have a total of 94 archery windows, which are used for shooting. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the gate of the archery tower was often closed. The officials and citizens needed to enter and exit from the side gates east and west of the defensive enclosure (between the archery tower and Zhengyangmen Gate). The gate of the archery tower would only be opened for the emperor’s use when ceremonial activities such as sacrifice to heaven in the southern suburbs were carried out. Today, it is open to the public as a museum.

The archery tower of the Zhengyangmen Gate is built on the terrace, in the middle of which there is an arch gate. The arch gate is constructed with five overlapping layers of bricks laid horizontally and vertically, respectively, which highlights the important status of the archery tower. There are Z-shape bridle paths to the upper level of the tower on the north and ribbon-insignia decorations on both east and west sides of the terrace. The archery windows are decorated with umbrella-style eaves, and there is an overhanging observation platform under the bottom archery windows. All these were renovated in 1915, making the archery tower a combination of Chinese and Western architectural forms.

The brick-and-stone archery tower on top of the terrace is a structure with seven bays wide and two bays deep. There is a porch five-bay wide and one-bay deep in the north. The archery tower is covered with a double-eave gable-and-hip roof of gray round tiles and trimmed with green glazed edges.