when traffic is sparse and/or mostly pedestrian those houses likely added more than they impeded, and then they stayed there vestigially until the incentive to

when traffic is sparse and/or mostly pedestrian those houses likely added more than they impeded, and then they stayed there vestigially until the incentive to remove them was strong enough this happened in many other places as well as business and housing were strongly integrated into the 20th century, and to some extent right next to traffic is still prime location in most of the world that will perhaps leapfrog the era of strong segregation of business and residential