Former Ice Factory And Cold Store

This is a former ice factory and cold store, designed in 1899 by Ernest Bewlay for the Linde British Refrigeration Company and completed in 1900. By that time Bewlay had joined Cossins and Peacock of Colmore Row. The building is constructed of red brick with a slate roof and extends over four storeys and a basement.

The front elevation facing Digbeth Road displays a distinct architectural style, with ten bays. At ground floor level, seven bays are blind, while the remaining three have metal-framed windows with cambered heads. The first floor is also blind. The second and third floors each feature paired windows, with the third floor having lunettes, except for the two right-hand bays which are blind. The left flank abuts No. 135 Digbeth, while the right flank has two shaped gables with a ground floor loading bay, a raised platform, and four iron columns with bollards. The second and third floors of this flank feature a wall arcade without windows. Large circular air inlets are positioned at the tops of the gables. A section of wall at ground floor level on the right-hand side has been demolished; a 1937 Goad Insurance plan indicates this was likely the location of a former boilerhouse chimney. The rear of the building includes a boilerhouse with arched metal-framed windows, pilaster buttresses, and a roof louvre.

Internally, the ground floor is notably tall, with the three upper floors having a lesser height. A loading bay is located at the eastern end of the building, leading onto a courtyard accessible from Digbeth and Orwell Passage. Within the courtyard are a staircase and two lifts providing access to each floor. The floors are supported by a grid of evenly spaced iron columns with moulded caps, which in turn support steel beams. Each floor contains four main chambers, equipped with heavy, insulated doors. The walls and ceiling of these chambers are lined with wood panelling behind which is cork insulation. Metal ducts of rectangular section traverse the ceilings, also insulated with cork and boxed in with wood panels. Replaced fans circulate cold air at the top of the building, and the roof structure has been replaced to match the original design.

A smaller, lower building containing offices, stores, and a canteen was constructed in 1920 to designs by Cossins, Peacock, and Cooke; this is not part of the listed building.