Epstein's Top 100 Projects: #56: Continental Freezers of Illinois

Coming in at no. 56 in our Top 100 Projects countdown is the frozen foods warehouse for Continental Freezers of Illinois, a food storage facility located at 4220 South Kildare within the Crawford Development of the Central Manufacturing Facility.

This facility, when completed in 1952, was the world's largest warehouse of its kind, capable of storing 30 million pounds (2.7M cubic feet) of meat and assorted perishable food products.

Continental’s storage facility was serviced by rail docks as well as truck docks and featured freezers kept at temperatures between -10° and -20° F with 21’ foot clear height. Each of the -20°F spaces were supported by four refrigerating units and the -10°F spaces were serviced by six units. In addition, a large machine room at the center of the complex help the mechanical equipment required to power and cool this massive structure.

This facility grew rapidly, as a 640K cubic feet addition was completed in 1955; then another expansion adding 320K of cubic feet was completed in 1956.