What is a “standard” house? While modern houses are nice, the construction methods and materials used in some homes of the period are nearly impossible to procure today. Quarter-sawn oak, walnut staircase, etc. Tough to make comparisons on some of that stuff.
My house was built in 1952. Part of the post-war housing boom. It's a little brick ranch, not remarkable in any way, and pretty much like the other houses on my street. But if I tried to replicate it today, it would cost a small fortune.
The exterior walls are brick. Not that silly brick facing, but real fired two-inch-thick brick. The interior walls are concrete board on a wood frame, with a steel mesh to hold the plaster. No drywall. In ill-considered bursts of youthful anger, I've put a fist and a foot through a Sheetrock (tm) wall -- not gonna happen here. My hand will break before the wall will.
I never knew what a wall anchor was until I went to college. In this house, the walls are robust enough that just tapping in a straight nail is enough to hang most of the stuff you'd want to hang. If it's a heavy frame, two nails.
The floors are hardwood, and the sub-floors are ... unfinished hardwood. There's not a lot of plywood to be found.
The insulation value of these sturdy walls is pretty solid, too. It's 38°F outside, 62°F inside. I have not fired up the furnace yet this year. Once I replace the old windows with some nice double-pane numbers, I should be able to knock out the drafts and make things nice and cozy.
I can't imagine buying a new house unless it's built to my specs and under my supervision. Most houses today are built on the assumption that buyers want something trendy and shiny, and in a few decades it'll be razed and something else built on the site. Old houses were built on the assumption that they would stay in families and should stand forever.
There are drawbacks. My '50s house has a '70s electrical system. One designed for the days before computers, microwave ovens, blow dryers and air conditioning, A typical new home has a 200-250 amp breaker box. I have a 75. Over the years I've learned which electrical appliances I can't run at the same time without tripping a breaker. I can iron my clothes and microwave my breakfast in the morning, but not at the same time.
The plumbing is no great shakes, either -- I have galvanized, cast-iron and copper pipe where more modern homes have PVC. Gluing PVC isn't fun, but it's a lot less hassle than sweating copper. And if anything goes wrong with the cast-iron sewer line, just damn.
But this sturdy old dame is a good platform to improve on. It's got cable and Wi-Fi, coax and twisted-pair copper to every room, which I ran my own damn self. I had the notion of running cat-5 to every room, but then Wi-Fi came along, and it wasn't worth the hassle. My house has a basement that's damp and an attic that's hot, but I can work with that.
All in all, I think I'll stick around for a while.