12/10/2020
How do you store your vintage wine?
Restoring an Antique Ice Box
Most of us who are familiar with modern technology today often forget where it came from. Some of our grandparents who lived in the 1920’s most likely saw one of these in the local general store. This particular unit was made by Gruendler in St. Louis, one of the larger ice box manufacturing companies of the time.
The principal idea was to use blocks of ice to keep food cool. This unit has the ice rack located behind the center door. Large block ice was placed on the metal rack. A metal tray on the floor contained and drained the melting ice keeping the interior dry. Using technology of the day this unit was constructed of pine and oak over a 2-1/2” thick cypress frame. This 2-1/2” cavity was filled with cork for insulation. Each door contains three layers of glass and used a layer of cotton rope for a door seal. Because this was a commercial unit the left side was furnished with hooks providing a place to hang meat, game and poultry.
It is a rare to find one this size which still possess all original hardware although several “repairs” had been made through the years. When our client found this unit some twenty years ago in an old saw mill commissary in Zimmerman, La. they knew it was special, even sitting askew in a rotting floor filled with rodent nests and mostly rotted away on the right front side. After discussions with the properties owners our client was heartbroken to learn it was not for sale. Taking advice from his father our client returned to offer the owner a trade. After a half hour of discussions, a deal was struck! The owner was most happy to take six goats in trade for the ancient rotting ice box.
Weighing in at over six hundred pounds it was no easy chore moving it. After storing the ice box for some twenty years our client was ready to fulfill his dream of restoring it and using it as a wine cooler!
We started by dismantling the unit to determine what was salvageable and what needed replacing. Most of the floor and the right interior side was beyond saving and would need to be replaced. The corroded and rusted hardware was removed. Several “repairs” had been previously made to some of the door hinges by adding a steel strap to repair a break in the hinge. Most of the hinges had to be cut apart as the pins and thrust bearings were rusted and corroded. After cleaning the hardware, it was determined most was bronze and brass. Wanting to keep things looking original we chose to have the hardware repaired and nickel plated.
All of the old original glass was removed from the doors, cleaned and re-installed after painting and replacing one of the lower rotted door frames. New rubber weather strips were installed on each door for insulation. New hinge pins were machined to replace the ones we had to drill out. New thrust bearings were ordered and installed. We chose to install modern day adjustable pull-out wine racks which should give a capacity of about 300 bottles in this unit. A new Peerless wine cooling unit was hung inside on the ceiling for proper wine chilling. To support the newly restored unit, including three hundred bottles of wine, we chose to add six-5” industrial steel casters underneath each capable of supporting 1500 pounds each! Although it now weighs some 750 pounds empty, it will roll with the touch of your hand!
Now you have a great conversation piece and a superior wine storage unit! How do you store your vintage wines? Ask Glen Armand about a making you a reproduction ice box wine cooler today!
