[pasabagi]

Well, the Romans had a custom of charging less rent for many-story buildings, because they were widely recognized to be susceptible to collapse. I don't think they're really high-quality architects.

I had a look at some Roman houses in Ostia Antica, and the really striking thing is how little the techniques of architecture have changed. They could do some impressive architecture from time to time, but on the whole, they built stuff about the same as your average cowboy builder would today, minus a bunch of legal requirements (fire proofing, etc).