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A research project on the deformation capacity of unreinforced structural masonry is underway at the Institute of Structural Engineering of ETH Zurich. The development of the basic building blocks for the displacement-based design of masonry structures is the objective of the present research project, which should be seen as a first step in an initiative to investigate the limits of the deformation capacity of structural masonry. A total of 10 static-cyclic tests on full-scale unreinforced masonry walls made of clay and calcium-silicate blocks have been carried out to investigate the effects of the various factors, ie unit type, vertical pre-compression level, aspect ratio, size effect and boundary conditions on the deformation capacity of structural masonry. This paper presents the results obtained from three tests of the abovementioned experimental program planned to investigate the effects of the vertical pre-compression level on the deformation capacity of structural masonry. The test results show that as the vertical pre-compression level increases, the ultimate deformation capacity decreases. They also show that the values recommended by current codes of practice for the deformation capacity of unreinforced masonry walls cannot be considered as reliable.