The Sanyuan Pavilion Tower is located on the Guangchu Gate of the central axis of Tingzhou City. Guangchu Gate was built in the Tang Dynasty, called Yinjiang Gate in the Song Dynasty and changed back to Guangchu Gate in the fourth year of Emperor Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It added a city building in the 12th year of Hongzhi, and changed Guangchu Gate to Sanyuan Pavilion in the sixth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty. The Sanyuan (three “yuan”) takes the meaning of the first prize, the Zhuangyuan, the Huiyuan and the Jieyuan of the ancient Chinese imperial examination system. According to the research, the Sanyuan Pavilion once worshiped the statue of Kui Xing and the statues of three officials namely Tian (Heaven), Di (Earth), and Shui (Water), hoping to be rich of culture, talents, and to have good weather for the crops in Tingzhou. Sanyuan Pavilion is an important part of the city wall of Tingzhou. The gate is a masonry structure, which is arched into three sections deep. The city building is a double-story castle with brick and wood.

It was announced as the seventh batch of national key cultural relic protection sites in May 2013.