CRYSTAL ICE COMPANY

By  Mike Miller November 21, 2025

The Crystal Ice Company building in Pensacola, Florida was built in 1932 and served as a roadside ice stand for motorists and locals.

It sold blocks of ice, not bags of ice cubes like we buy today. The small concrete block structure was designed to look like a block of ice with stucco "icicles" and a polar bear sculpture on the roof.

The building has an awning for drive-thru service. The site represents vernacular “roadside commercial” architecture from the pre-refrigeration era.

Now protected and fenced, it draws history buffs for its quirky design.

Guy Spearman founded the Crystal Ice Company in 1930. He brewed beer and supplied ice for Pensacola's fishing industry.

The company operated four ice houses to preserve seafood catches and cool iceboxes before there were affordable home refrigerators.

Spearman built the ice houses in low-income areas as that was where his customers were. They couldn’t afford a pricey refrigerator and still used iceboxes.

This building, the last survivor, opened in 1932. Architect Steven Fulgham designed it, blending whimsy with function. It’s built of concrete block with applied stucco.

The roof is flat with an irregular parapet. The polar bear symbolizes cold, and mica mixed in with the stucco makes the building sparkle like snow or ice.

A sign carved into the wall illustrates hand signals for customers to use to order ice without leaving their cars.

Customers pulled under the canopy for drive-thru service and used the hand signals to order blocks from 100 pounds (one finger) to 12.5 pounds (five fingers).

An attendant quickly delivered the ice via a chute. Inside the building was a small office and a large storage freezer.

Operations ran until the 1950s, when affordable home refrigeration ended demand. It later became a storage shed, then sat vacant.

It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on September 29, 1983, for commerce and design significance.

The building qualifies as historic for its rare example of mimetic architecture (shaped like its product) and its ties to Pensacola's ice trade, vital for fishing since the 1860s.

The building is also included on the Florida African American Heritage Trail. It is located in the historically Black neighborhood of Eastside.

It's recognized for its significance as a vital utility provider during segregation. It supplied ice to Black households and businesses that were often excluded from services available to white residents.

In 2007 the Pensacola News Journal named it one of the "Seven Wonders of Pensacola". The building now belongs to Historic Pensacola, Inc., for preservation.

The building is at 501 East Jordan Street, Pensacola, FL 32503. It lies north of downtown at the southeast corner of North Davis Street and East Jordan Street.

Reach it via I-110, exit 1, then north on Davis. It’s viewable daily from dawn to dusk. There is no interior access; it's fenced for protection.

You can park on streets nearby and walk up for photos and the historical marker. Look at the hand signals carved into the wall and the polar bear on top.

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