Once upon a time, a city gate within Frankfurt's city fortifications stood on this site. The Bockenheim Gate and the adjoining Bockenheimer Landstraße led through the Frankfurt municipal area to the village of Bockenheim. Incorporated in 1895, the town lay outside the Frankfurt Landwehr, which enclosed the municipal area, in the Middle Ages. Shortly after the gate, the Mainzer Landstraße branched off from Bockenheimer Landstraße in a southwesterly direction. After the city walls surrounding the city center were demolished, what is now Opernplatz lay between the Taunusanlage and the Bockenheimer Anlage. City architect Johann Georg Christian Hess had a neoclassical portal built there to emphasize the square's medieval significance. However, the portal was demolished in 1875 to make way for an opera house. The building, now known as the Alte Oper, was completed in 1880 and was one of the largest of its time. Initially, only part of the square surrounding the opera house was called Opernplatz; The actual Bockenheim Gate, which was located in front of the main entrance, initially retained its name. However, today's Frankfurt Opera is located on Willy-Brandt-Platz, which is occasionally confusing for visitors from outside the city.