Brie Schmidt pretty familiar with that Chicago vintage and concur it is likely due to antiquated cast pipe or its layout.

No one has figured out how to sell art, jewelry and other unique products online. 

If there is no one around to water the pots, you could always do some "faux" plants.

The problem with your interpretation  is that if a tenant mistakenly or otherwise left behind something of value e.g valuable jewelry, then the law as you state it would allow the landlord to claim it was abandoned and convert it to his own use.

If it is an ugly or funky color that could mean someone covered the original top coat with a latex or caulk paint trying to mimick a faux finish?

Vintage product from that time frame you mentioned land was more readily available and costs were low.So density built and number of units were low for the acreage the property sat on.So even if you have 52 units today that might not be it's highest and best use.Might be better tearing it down and building higher density apartment complex on the land or rezone altogether for mixed use or a different asset class (retail,etc.)From the time these buildings were built the surrounding areas might have changed in plan and in purpose as well as other new product on the market that is competing.If these are all houses or quad's spread out etc. then look at the whole portfolio and see the potential of each parcel.Is the building close to commercial development??

One of my partners sold his garbage company for just under 100 million and he drives is old Chevy Tahoe.. but when I was in Istanbul on a trip with him he bought his wife jewelry that was more than the car we are talking about .another member had the largest court reporting business in SF and they sold for I think about 12 million.. he drove a 70s old beat up ford.. but had a AT the time 2 plus million dollar home and he owned a Mall up in Rockland.. 

There was a 60's vintage cast-iron dark blue bathtub and over the years, the soap scum had built up on the enamel to a point that the blue had turned green in places.

I did fall in love with faux ceiling tiles.

So far, I have both fabric and faux leather couches.