After spending thousands of hours on site investigations, reviewing expert reports and reviewing construction doucments related to "new" condos and single family residences, I would never buy a new house and almost would not accept a new condo as a gift. Unless you are building it yourself, and know what you are doing, it is far more likely that the old house was built right in the first place than a new one. Sounds like there is a good story behind your 1918 house though.