In this 1861 lithograph of Virginia City, drawn in late 1860, it is possible to see three varieties of structures in an early, Western mining town (Virginia City was founded in the summer of 1859; the African American artist, Graton T. Brown, drew the lithograph about sixteen months later).

The structures drawn around the bird's eye view consist of masonry structures (which tend to be square by nature) and gable-front wooden buildings that have, either a false front or present the gable front without that adornment. Italianate-style architecture was extremely popular with the settlement of the West, so people often attempted to emulate it, even though buildings were generally not architect-designed. The Italianate style emphasized tall, square buildings, and it was particularly important to exhibit a squared roofline at the front. As indicated, this was easily achieved with bricks. The trick was to have a pitched roof behind the roofline, with drainage often leading through channels in the front and/or rear facades.

Communities often regarded it to be aesthetically pleasing to have a row of commercial structures on the main street that presented one façade after the next with the squared front, Italianate presentation. Since walls often adjoined, this was particularly important since water from one roof could not flood into the wall of the next.

Achieving "the look" with wood was a challenge, because gabling was the best way to shed water and to take on the snow load. The false front was the solution. For a community that was quick to build - a very common situation in the mining town - this was a cheap, quick way to achieve the look of an Italianate-style building.

One tended not to see this affectation for wooden buildings off the main commercial corridor. People recognized that without adjoining façades, the false front did not present well from the side. In addition, it was more expensive, so people often resorted to a gable-front presentation. That said, there are also wooden Italianate-style structures from the period, and these, too, would present the blocky front façade.

In short, it is a matter of style and architectural taste for the time.

For a look at Grafton Brown's 1864 Bird's Eye View of Virginia City, see my article here. You can see that by 1864, the community was heavily masonry with most of the buildings illustrated around the parameter of the document exhibiting the blocky Italianate look. If you scroll through the article, you will see a street image with wooden false fronts adjoined to present a consistent, Italianate architectural streetscape. Further down in the article is the famed Territorial Enterprise building, a massive masonry structure and a fine example of what was hoped to be achieved with this style.