Air Conditioning Rehabilitation

While the Fox was originally cooled by chilled air (swamp-cooled) in 1930, the system was switched to true “air conditioning” in 1936. Movie theatres and dress shops were the first businesses to take advantage of this new technology. While the Fox’s original equipment was still in-place, it was all removed to make room for new more efficient equipment. The engineers for the mechanical systems did, however, keep the same path of air for the building, that is the air is still moved up from the basement to the roof area where it circulates down and through the building. One economic change to the system lets the auditorium of the building be cooled separately from the lobby spaces.