Many of the best ancient wooden architectural structures are located in Beijing. These structures have suffered for a long time from natural and manmade damage. Some of these wooden structures face the risk of collapse. It is necessary, therefore, to make systematic measurements and surveys to accurately record the current state of preservation of these buildings and to discover possible safety issues. In this research, Yonghemen was taken as an example to illustrate inspectional and appraisal methods for similar structures. First,a survey and map of the structure was completed,then a detailed investigation and measurement of the stress and deformation states of the bearing members and the primary nodes was carried out. Several nondestructive inspection technologies were adopted during the testing. For instance, radar was used to detect the foundation. Impulse tomography and resistography were used to detect the quality of the wood. Apulsating instrument was adopted to identify the dynamic parameters adopted.Finally an evaluation of the building’s safety issues was made based on the information from the detection methods mentioned.