I just listed a condo in a brick brownstone built in 1917. The stately building looks over Powder Horn Park. The three-level buildings line up along the sidewalks, high over the baseball diamonds, playgrounds, and trails around the lake. There is a public bike rack right out front as a reminder that there is no need to fret over the lack of garages as the bike infrastructure in the city is an adequate substitute.
The most significant differences between this one-hundred-year-old structure and one built today lay inside and out. An all-brick exterior is prohibitively costly. This is really too bad because not only is the exterior beautiful it requires very little maintenance. On the inside the units are efficiencies or one bedrooms. Even though there are many households of one, these two configurations are the least likely to appear in new construction. And then everyone complains about the price of things.
Below is the plat map from 1914 and shows the lots between 14th Ave and 12 Ave on the NE corner of the park as undeveloped.
Home Economics 