I'll add to the other comments by noting that in my home town, there were a bunch of devastating fires that wreaked havoc on Main Street and the downtown area, followed by the rebuilding using brick and stone rather than wood. A lot of downtowns have beautiful old brick buildings dating from that period - they were well built and resistant to fire and so there's been no reason to replace them.

So I think there's an aspect of building for sustainability to it too.