Abstract | The salient characteristics of low-rise unreinforced brick masonry residential buildings of Northern Pakistan are presented, aiming to provide a basis for defining archetypes suitable for seismic vulnerability assessment in this area. Firstly, an overview of the typical geometrical characteristics, the mechanical properties of the commonly used materials, the main structural features, and observed damage patterns of such buildings is given. Available test data on a set of wallets and a single room consistent with the configuration and construction practices in Northern Pakistan are selected. The wall strength reference values and the effect of construction issues that influence the boundary conditions, such as the wall-to-wall and wall-to-slab connections, are studied, too. The consistency between the failure mechanisms activated by the experimental tests and those predicted by analytical strength criteria available in the literature is shown; this is used as a tool to define the most plausible values of mechanical parameters to be adopted as a reference in seismic safety building evaluation. These results constitute the preliminary but necessary step to address structural models for building and class vulnerability assessment of, arguably, one of the most dominant and vulnerable building types in Pakistan, and by extension, of a large part of South Asia.