Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Anyone have a favorite historical building at the moment? Mine is the REI Flagship store here in Denver. Of course REI is cool, but this one is my favorite building due to what it USED to be.
It was the Tramway Power Station for Denver's tramway lines in the early 1900s. It was then turned into the Forney Transportation Museum and now is an REI outdoor store.
Being a fan of railroading, architecture, outdoors, machinery, and presently learning a lot about HVAC systems in my current job, this building fits perfectly. It amazes me how they retrofitted the building from it's original purpose. This is not some brick and steel building they gutted and made into a "store". This is a store they made to fit into the building leaving a lot of exposed girders, beams, windows, bridgework, ladders, coal chutes, etc, in place so the history isn't totally lost.
The Starbucks in the REI has a great collection of photos of the building when it still generated power for the tramway system. It's difficult to see what everything use to be, but the general idea is there. There were 19 coal fired steam boilers and 8, if I recall correctly, steam turbines for producing electricity. There was a large store room, coal hoppers, lighting dissipation equipment, transformers, etc. At the landscaped rock, foliage, and concrete entrance, they layed in steel to simulate where the coal hopper cars were pushed through to the coal pit, which is where Starbucks is now. In Starbucks there is a ladder that still stands, it's bottom in the concrete slab, and going "nowhere" into the ceiling. Other places have catwalks, traces of equipment placements, evidence of old stairways or concrete floors.
Today they have 2 hydraulic elevators, modern HVAC equipment, etc. I actually called the maintenance guy and am going to set up a time to take a behind-the-scenes look at their chillers, air handlers, boilers, etc. The most amazing part of the HVAC system, that I can see as a customer, is the room of HVAC equipment in a loft-type enclosure "suspended" from the ceiling, and the round 6 foot diameter air supply tube coming off the air handlers.
So anyway, I have Thursday and next Monday off so I may make an appointment to swing by and take a look at modern day stuff mixed with a bit of history, all in one building. I will take pictures!
Nick
It was the Tramway Power Station for Denver's tramway lines in the early 1900s. It was then turned into the Forney Transportation Museum and now is an REI outdoor store.
Being a fan of railroading, architecture, outdoors, machinery, and presently learning a lot about HVAC systems in my current job, this building fits perfectly. It amazes me how they retrofitted the building from it's original purpose. This is not some brick and steel building they gutted and made into a "store". This is a store they made to fit into the building leaving a lot of exposed girders, beams, windows, bridgework, ladders, coal chutes, etc, in place so the history isn't totally lost.
The Starbucks in the REI has a great collection of photos of the building when it still generated power for the tramway system. It's difficult to see what everything use to be, but the general idea is there. There were 19 coal fired steam boilers and 8, if I recall correctly, steam turbines for producing electricity. There was a large store room, coal hoppers, lighting dissipation equipment, transformers, etc. At the landscaped rock, foliage, and concrete entrance, they layed in steel to simulate where the coal hopper cars were pushed through to the coal pit, which is where Starbucks is now. In Starbucks there is a ladder that still stands, it's bottom in the concrete slab, and going "nowhere" into the ceiling. Other places have catwalks, traces of equipment placements, evidence of old stairways or concrete floors.
Today they have 2 hydraulic elevators, modern HVAC equipment, etc. I actually called the maintenance guy and am going to set up a time to take a behind-the-scenes look at their chillers, air handlers, boilers, etc. The most amazing part of the HVAC system, that I can see as a customer, is the room of HVAC equipment in a loft-type enclosure "suspended" from the ceiling, and the round 6 foot diameter air supply tube coming off the air handlers.
So anyway, I have Thursday and next Monday off so I may make an appointment to swing by and take a look at modern day stuff mixed with a bit of history, all in one building. I will take pictures!
Nick
