Abstract: For a given excavation depth, the deformation forms of the retaining walls are different owing to various retaining structures and bracing systems. Thus the settlement of the soil and the deformation of the adjacent buildings can be considerably different. The responses of buildings adjacent to excavations with different deformation modes of retaining walls are analyzed. The results show that when the retaining walls exhibit kick-in, convex and composite deformation, for the buildings close to the excavations, sagging deformation occurs and its magnitude depends on the settlement of the soil near the retaining walls. Especially for the kick-in and convex deformation modes of the retaining walls, the sagging deformation is the most significant and the tensile strain on the buildings is severe. In this case, the buildings are in the most adverse situation. For any deformation modes of the retaining walls, when the relative distance between the buildings and the excavations is about (1~1.5) times the excavation depth, the excavations will cause obvious hogging deformation and the tensile strain of the buildings. All the buildings at that location are in most adversity.