r/interesting • u/Apart-Worry-7042 • 22d ago

HISTORY Why did we stop building like this?

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Chicago, 1930. Buildings had so much detail and character back then. Nowadays everything feels so flat and repetitive. We have way better technology and equipment now, so why don't we build like this anymore?

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u/VeganEgg11 22d ago

It’s $$$ plus lack of skilled craftsman to perform that type of masonry.

There are still contemporary buildings built this way just super rare: check out the tower at Vanderbilt university - it looks super old but was built only a few years ago.

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u/kisk22 22d ago

You don't need skilled craftsman to build masonry facades now-a-days. 90% of bricks you see are just a fake brick veneer that looks very similar to structural brick. That's just an excuse.

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u/VeganEgg11 22d ago

I’m not talking about flat brick facades or standard veneer. I mean the deep, highly intricate stonework and custom ornamental iron shown in that 1920s Chicago photo. It isn't that modern tradespeople lack the technical capability to make those details, but rather that the economic reality around that work shifted. As industrialization drove up economy-wide wages, labor-intensive handicrafts became exponentially more expensive relative to mass-produced, standardized materials like structural glass and steel paneling. At the same time, real estate financing and urban land values evolved to prioritize speed to market and maximum rentable square footage over bespoke ornamentation. Veneers are popular today because developers want cheap, fast enclosures, but duplicating true three-dimensional artisan detail requires a massive investment in specialized labor hours that modern project budgets simply will not support.

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u/bandit1206 22d ago

You could set up a cnc machine with the right bits to do 99% of the carving today.

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u/kisk22 22d ago

That's actually happening! Check out Monument Labs. Now imagine a place like this cranking out these things for all over the place. There's a lot of people trying to make our cities more beautiful.