Warm air, cold ice

Installed in 1926, and in a separate "Ammonia Room", behind the main boiler room, a huge York ammonia compressor was driven by a large General Electric motor via a wide, flat, leather belt. The ammonia refrigeration cycle chilled a tank of brine in the Ammonia Room that was then circulated through cork insulated piping to numerous kitchen refrigerators, walk-in-coolers, and even the underbar bottle coolers in the hotel's various bars, restaurants, and extensive banquet facilities. In addition, rectangular containers in the brine tank were used to freeze large blocks of fresh water ice, also used for food and beverage purposes in the hotel.

Needless to say, when the big ammonia machine failed, it put everything out of commission and would require immediate attention. Many times in the middle of the night, someone from the hotel would call up my father and say, "Jack... the ammonia machine's not working". He'd always get up and go downtown right away to fix it.

The ammonia machine was finally decommissioned around 1960. It was replaced with dozens of individual Freon compressors serving each separate refrigerator unit in the hotel, but all of the old ammonia plant machinery remained in place. Even sitting there in silence, it was an impressive assembly of technology that I feel privileged to have known in person.