Cross Laminated Timber enjoys great popularity in structural engineering and is one of the upcoming building materials in the timber construction sector. To support the favorable development of this high-performance wood product and to strengthen its competitiveness towards other mass building materials, the mechanical behavior and its implications for the structural design are addressed here. From the mechanical point of view CLT is a multilayer, highly anisotropic and shear compliant laminated composite. Owing to the analytical solutions for laminated composites and sandwich plates, the actual deformation behavior of CLT will be presented, and the accuracy and computational efficiency of common and advanced plate theories will be demonstrated. Comprehending the effects of laminate lay-up, anisotropic material behavior and cross-sectional warping will lead to an enhanced understanding of its mechanical behavior and will contribute to trustworthy deformation and stress prognoses as well as to reliable structural design.