I think this and your last post about architecture is very revealing about us!
I have a friend, a sculptor, who was commissioned to make two marble capitals for use in a historic preservation project in downtown Manhattan. He worked on those two pieces for two months before they were done. So we know that buildings of the older sort in this post required much more passion and dedication to complete than many of the character-free buildings of today. Of course the laborers then may not have made any money slaving away at their difficult craft. My friend made quite a bundle!