Former Ice Factory and Cold Store
FORMER ICE FACTORY AND COLD STORE, 123-135, DIGBETH
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392753
- Date first listed:
- 09-Jan-2006
- List Entry Name:
- Former Ice Factory and Cold Store
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER ICE FACTORY AND COLD STORE, 123-135, DIGBETH
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1392753
- Date first listed:
- 09-Jan-2006
- List Entry Name:
- Former Ice Factory and Cold Store
- Statutory Address 1:
- FORMER ICE FACTORY AND COLD STORE, 123-135, DIGBETH
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- FORMER ICE FACTORY AND COLD STORE, 123-135, DIGBETH
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Birmingham (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SP0746886533
Details
997/1/10433
09-JAN-06
DIGBETH
123-135
Former ice factory and cold store
II
Ice Factory and Cold Store. Designed in 1899 by Ernest Bewlay for the Linde British Refrigeration Company and completed in 1900, by which time Bewlay had joined Cossins and Peacock of Colmore Row. Red brick with a slate roof. Four storeys and a basement.
Exterior: The front to Digbeth Road has a distinct architectural treatment. There are 10 bays: At ground floor level these have semi-circular relieving arches and the 7 bays at left are blind but at right the 3 metal-framed windows have cambered heads. The first floor is blind, but the second and third floor windows are paired and the third floor has lunettes, save to the 2 right-hand bays which are blind. The left flank abuts No. 135 Digbeth. The right flank has 2 shaped gables with a loading bay to the ground floor which has a raised platform and 4 iron columns with bollards. The second and third floors here have a wall arcade but no windows. To the tops of the gables are large circular air inlets. A wall to ground floor level at right has been demolished and the 1937 Goad Insurance plan of the site indicates that this is probably where the boilerhouse chimney once stood. The rear has the boilerhouse at right with arched heads to the metal-framed windows and pilaster buttresses and a louvre to the roof.
Interior: the building has a tall ground floor and lesser height to the three upper floors. The loading bay is at the eastern end of the building, giving onto a courtyard which is entered from Digbeth and Orwell Passage. Immediately behind are a staircase and two lifts leading to each floor. The floors are supported by a grid of evenly spaced iron columns with moulded caps supporting steel beams. At each level there are 4 main chambers. These have heavy, insulated doors and the walls and ceiling are lined with wood panelling behind which is cork insulation. There are metal ducts of rectangular section across the ceilings, which are also covered with cork insulation and boxed-in with wood panels. To the top of the building there are replaced fans which circulate cold air. The roof structure has been replaced to the original pattern.
Opposite the loading bay, on the other side of a courtyard, is a lower building with shaped gables housing the office, stores and canteen, built in 1920 to designs by Cossins, Peacock and Cooke, which is not included in this item.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 493738
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 10-Jul-2026 at 03:00:30.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.