> so ornamentation added value.

When and where was this a common thing?

I've lived and owned houses built from the 1750s to the 1960s in England and Norway and none of them have much in the way of ornamentation.

> Houses used to be built to be lived in

Of course and that's one reason why most didn't have a lot of ornamentation, the money would be spent on necessary functionality first.

Perhaps I'm just not wealthy enough.