Aside from its high cost, gold is a terrible building material: It is enormously hefty. It is structurally weak and would necessitate the use of alloys in anything that must support weight, which is the case for almost every building material. Gold has more use as an ornament than as an actual component of construction. However, the ancient Chinese are known to have used it for buildings they knew would be destroyed, such as ceremonial structures, so they could replace them with new ones. This shows that gold was not considered worthless at the time it was used as building material. Modern builders sometimes use gold leaf in ceilings and other decorative work because of its beautiful color and texture. The metal is relatively easy to work with and does not require special tools for application. However, it is expensive and only used for special effects. As far as I know, no one uses gold in their daily buildings, but there may be exceptions I don't know about.