flat-roofed house, upper room, or a house with terrace on the roof (see attestations)
"The word is composed of tlapantli (flat roof, terrace) and calli (house, large room). Could mean flat-roofed house or upper room."
Tlapancalli. Casa de açotea. qujtoznequj, amo xacalli, tlaquauhtentli, vapaltzaquj, quauhpixollo... = Flat roofed house. It means not a hut, [but] a wooden house, the beams covered with planks; a house covered with wood...."
Tlapantli = azotea (Spanish), which can mean "rooftop terrace." So, tlapancalli could mean a house with a rooftop terrace, or perhaps even a house with a second story. (SW) See the tlapancalli entry in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs and its embedded comparables.
"ome tlapancaltin niquimomaquilia nopipilhuatzitzinhua nochpochtzin yhua nomontzin ytoca Miquel Peres ma cemicac quimopialisque ayac cepa quihuils" = "dos aposentos de techo, se las doy a mi hija y a mi yerno Miguel Peres; que siempre la tengan y nadia se las quite" (Santa Ana Acolco, 1563)
"yoan yn nosolar niquinmacatehua yn nopilhuan nauhtetl yn tlapancaltzin ypan mani // yoan zentetl tlalli nicpiya motocayotiya Xiuhtetelco" = "y mi solar se los dejo dado a mis hijos, cuatro casas con terraza, en ellas viven, y una tierra que tengo donde se nombra Xiuhtetelco" (Tlaxcala, [1566] 1600)
"oyetetl caltin centetlapancali ontetl xacaltin yoan in calacuemitl ypan mani tlapalnopali yoan metl ypan onoc yoan capolime yan onoc yoan capolime" = "dos aposentos, los de terrado y otro de jacale, y encima de la tierra [solariega] hay nopales de grana y magueyes y árboles de capulín" (San Bartolomé Tenango, 1585)