Abstract: The deformation due to excavation in soft clay areas has considerable spatial effects. To investigate the deformation characteristics, a large-scale deep excavation project in Wenzhou is monitored, the settlements and cracks of the ground and adjacent buildings are observed and analyzed through two directions: perpendicular to the retaining wall and paralleled to the wall, and the distribution characteristics of the ground settlement are summarized. The field measurements show that the corner has inhibition effect on the wall deflections and ground settlements. In the vertical direction, the buildings in the range of 2 H_e outside the excavation have large differential settlement, and the maximum angular variable reaches 1/1300. The longitudinal cracks are observed from 0.4 H_e to 1.2 H_e (the maximum excavation depth) on the parallel direction, the large rate of settlement change may damage the road or the structures. In addition, the total and differential settlements of the buildings on pile foundation are significantly smaller than those on strip foundation.