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Earthquakes with comparatively low magnitudes can lead to serious damage to non-structural components of historical masonry buildings, such as architectural facade elements. In order to assess the vulnerability of non-structural components, the horizontal floor acceleration is used. This depends on the dynamic characteristics of the building, the ground acceleration and dissipative effects. In the present article comprehensive probabilistic FE time history analyses with different hazard levels have been carried out for selected masonry structures. In order to take induced non-linearities into account, a macroscopic material model for historic masonry was calibrated and applied. It was shown that the chosen methodology enables the determination of the distribution of floor acceleration over the building height for historic masonry structures. In addition, due to the detailed scope, a robust comparison with the simplified design methods is possible. Finally, the applicability of the simplified design approach according to EN 1998-1 [1] is discussed for the investigated case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]