I think I’ve mentioned before the contruction of our walls in our 1888 Victorian, that they are made up of redwood 1″x10″. No lathe and plaster here. Well the commercial buildings on Main Street take that a step further. Instead of having studs spaced 16″ apart, they are spaced 0″ apart. The middle section of the wall is made up of 3″x6″s nailed to each other. Then the 1″x10″ get nailed to each side of that. So you end up with a wall 8″ thick of solid redwood. And that’s why even with earthquakes and fires, these buildings are still here. But if you were to demolish them (ugh, the thought!) they would be worth more for the old growth redwood they contain than the actual real estate market value.