Built around 1450, it was part of an extensive gate complex consisting of a drawbridge, a forecourt and the town gate proper. In its form the multi-storey building resembled the nearby Pyrzyce Gate. It owes its name to the nearby Church of St John.
Over time St John’s Gate lost its original importance. In the 18th century it took on entirely new functions. From 1721 to 1820 it housed a prison and then a hospital for the mentally ill. Finally, in 1842, the building was demolished. Only the pointed-arch passage, partly supplemented with 19th-century brick, has survived to our times.
When viewing the remains of St John’s Gate, it is also worth looking above the neo-Gothic tunnel. There is now a viewing terrace there, part of the picturesque Nightingale Avenue. From here you can see part of the old town fortifications from a slightly different perspective.