Chicago has the most lead pipes in the nation

> Consequently, the practice of putting the old multi-story, intact and furnished wooden buildings—sometimes entire rows of them en bloc—on rollers and moving them to the outskirts of town or to the suburbs was so common as to be considered nothing more than routine traffic.

Incredible!

Was that the inspiration for James Blish's Cities in Flight series?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_in_Flight

Im used to seeing wooden sheds on main st, but how were they able to lift a brick building off the ground, did they not have foundations built a few metres into the ground?

Using common old 19th century Victorian Britain tools; the jack screw, masonry chisel, greased boards, et al .. all that's required is to cut and separate the course above the foundations.