Yep, and most those old houses had 'balloon' construction walls. No headers between the floors, so if a fire did start it acted like a chimney....and no insulation.That is "knob and tube" or "KT" wiring.
Much more common that you might think.
What's worse is the plaster walls in your pic (also known as "daub and wattle").
Those wooden slats get dry and ignite from the wiring....all of a sudden fire inside the wall.