In the early 19th century, according to the construction plan of the Oran Monastery, a ceremonial entrance and bell tower were to be located west of the Vladimir Cathedral. In December 1808, under the abbot Hieromonk Nafanail, the dismantling of the old bell tower began, which was completed in March of the following year. Two years later, on February 27, 1810, Hieromonk Irodion signed a contract for the construction of a new bell tower. The main work was carried out by a master from Nizhny Novgorod, a peasant from the village of Ozerki in the Arzamas district, M.K. Filifanov. In 1811, a small two-tiered bell tower with holy gates on the first tier was built.

In 1812, a year after the completion of the bell tower, two identical two-story residential buildings, the abbot's and the brotherhood's, were erected on the western side. Between the buildings and the bell tower was a stone fence with two symmetrical passages from the Holy Gates, known as "the gates with the hooks." According to the well-known church historian, future Bishop Makariy, in the mid-19th century, the Oran Mother of God Monastery was surrounded by a stone wall with two towers on the northern side. The monastery had four gates: the first under the bell tower, called the holy gates, two on the sides of the bell tower, and the fourth on the eastern side leading to the Spring and chapel.

According to the insurance appraisal report, the monastery bell tower was square in plan, made of stone, two-tiered, with a height to the top of the cornice of 9 fathoms. It was plastered and covered with iron, painted with green oil paint, with a length and width of 5 fathoms and 1 arshin each. Built in 1811, it has been well preserved and stood separately.

Descriptions of the monastery's property from the mid-19th century also mention the bell tower: stone, two-tiered, with columns and a semicircular dome covered with iron and painted with copper. The head and cross were covered with white iron and gilded in 1875. Of the 13 monastery bells, the largest, the "blagovestny," weighed 412 poods, while the smallest weighed 1 pood and 8 pounds.