In the medieval period, merchant houses were usually one-storied with a gabled shingle-roof and clay walls, whereas, in the early Edo period, those with low-ceilinged second floor (tsushi nikai or loft) and sodeudatsu (extensions of the gable parapet walls that fill the trapezoidal space between the overhanging eaves of the main roof and the pent roof) became standard and houses with tile roofs and stucco walls appeared in the end of the 1600s.
中世では通常、平屋で板葺き切妻屋根に土壁の家屋が建てられ、江戸初期には、建ちの低い2階（厨子二階〈つしにかい〉）を備え、袖卯建（そでうだつ）を上げた家屋が標準化し、瓦葺き、漆喰塗籠めの壁を持つ町屋は1600年代末に現れる。