Interior photograph of the Denver Tramway Company Powerhouse/REI flagship store located in Denver, Colorado. The Denver Tramway Company Powerhouse is associated with the expansion and operation of the city's electric streetcar system. The construction of the powerhouse in 1901-04 corresponded to the transformation of Denver's streetcar network to an all electric system. Following its 1911 addition, the powerhouse became the primary source of electricity for Denver's streetcars and operated until the end of the Tramway's streetcar service in 1950. The powerhouse represents a type and method of design and construction typical of industrial architecture at the beginning of the twentieth century. Brick pilaster construction with extensive sash infill constitutes common industrial design of the period. The use of steel wall framing in the 1911 addition speaks to continued advances in structural design. On the interior, the high interior spaces with steel roof trusses, the accommodation of traveling cranes in long narrow production bays, and the use of built-up steel framing all represent advances in industrial design and materials adopted by engineers in the early twentieth century.
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