Naxi houses are mostly civil engineering structures, generally in the form of ().

The houses of Naxi nationality are mostly civil tile structures, generally adopting the form of "three squares and one wall". The main house is higher and the wing is slightly lower.

Since the Ming Dynasty, there have been magnificent tile houses among Naxi people in Lijiang, but most of them are the residences of chieftains and temples.

Since the Qing Dynasty, with the increase of cultural exchanges and the development of Naxi's social economy and culture, the architectural techniques of Han, Bai and Tibetan nationalities have been absorbed by Naxi, and civil or brick-and-wood tile-roofed buildings known as "three squares, one zhaobi" and "four entrances and five patios" have become popular in Lijiang towns, dam areas and valley villages, and have produced unique residential courtyards. There is a canal in front of the door, a water lane behind the house and a building across the river. In Old Town of Lijiang and many towns and villages, "every family has a yard and every family grows flowers". Courtyard is the center of the plane structure of residential buildings, and its ground is usually paved with simple materials such as stones, tiles and pebbles in folk style, such as "Four bats make trouble all their lives", "Kirin looks at the moon" and "Eight Immortals crossing the sea", which embodies the integration of multi-ethnic architectural arts. In rural areas, the west room and the north room of the "three squares and one wall" tile house are bedrooms and the south room is a barn.