The Icehouse, known historically as Constable Ice Storage, is located in the historically original town site of the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It began operations in 1910 as an ice house, manufacturing 300lb ice blocks for use in the food industry, primarily to keep produce cold as it was shipped by railroad to Eastern U.S. cities. Prior to its current arts use, the building was used by the police as storage for crime evidence. in 1990, Helen Hestenes and David Therrien began transforming The Icehouse into a center for the exhibition and exploration of new art forms, with emphasis on large scale works, installation, experimentation and community education.                                                                                                                             

 The Icehouse is now a venue for art shows and night life. Anything you can dream of The Icehouse has a place for it. Its dark Gothic like atmosphere gives the place an mysterious presence, a dungeon converted into a coffee house. It is a local hot spot, the movie “The Kingdom”, by Universal Pictures was shot on the site. It is 30,000 square feet of viewing pleasure with three public rooms which have housed exhibits from a wide variety of artists over the past 15 years. It also caters to corporate parties, weddings, music shows, raves and, most notably, local art exhibitions.
Known as an artist-run project, The Icehouse leases several rooms to local artists such as filmmakers and photographers. The Icehouse works hard to keep up the atmosphere local and grounded. Local artists create installation art specifically created for the occasion and often destroy it afterwards.

The focus of The Icehouse is to showcase large scale works that are usually not commercial and not for sale, but are more on ideas that are very powerful. The profits from the leasing are donated for various art projects, including First Friday Art walk and CRASHarts, a non profit art organization.

The Icehouses history is a lavish one. It had a big impact in the 90's and is still setting grounds for todays art world making it an oasis of happiness. The place is based so much on heart and soul, it has a magical human element about it that people know and love. It is not just a gallery with a painting on the wall for 25,000 dollars, it is something more, it is a strong survivor. The Icehouse will continue to be a buried treasure and an invisible secret as well as downtown Phoenixes landmark of endless possibilities.