Very slender masonry piers are particularly weak in resisting in-plane lateral loads and can be stabilized by hold-down vertical forces for excellent strength, stiffness, and ductility. However, the undesirable compressive mode of failure of stabilized rocking piers at larger drifts can be eliminated by the use of yielding energy dissipation device (EDD) to limit the forces in verticals and thereby the compression force in rocking piers. A retrofit scheme involving steel vertical elements and EDD has been developed and experimentally verified. A displacement-based design procedure based on a simple mechanics model is developed for the nonlinear load-deformation relationship of the stabilized piers. This performance-based design scheme rationally accounts for the superior ductility and energy dissipation characteristics of strengthened rocking piers.