The tower got its name from the Church of Constantine and Helena, located nearby in the Kremlin. Initially, it served as a passageway and protected the ancient roads connecting the Kremlin with the Great Posad (Kitai-Gorod), as well as the approaches from the pier and the streets of Velikaya and Varyskaya. Situated close to the river, the tower had a powerful shooting gallery connected to it by a bridge over a moat. The shooting gallery could be accessed via a drawbridge.

In the 1670s-1680s, a slender tented roof was built over the wide square base of the tower with machicolations and a parapet, resting on an arched quadrilateral foundation. The lower part of the tent was pierced with dormer windows.

By the end of the 17th century, when the Great Street lost its significance and the defensive role of the tower diminished, the shooting gallery was converted into a dungeon, named the "Torture Chamber." The tower's gates were closed.

In 1707, by order of Peter I, the embrasures on the Constantine-Elenin Tower were widened for the installation of cannons. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the bridge and the shooting gallery were dismantled, and the gates were bricked up.

Inside, the passageway of the tower, covered by a cylindrical vault, is partially filled in. Above the spacious vaulted room of the second tier rises the upper square, open to the cavity of the tent, divided into tiers by flat wooden ceilings. An internal staircase, starting from an opening inside the Kremlin, leads to the fighting platform.

The height of the tower is 36.8 meters.