Garrow & Associates excavated an ice house in Memphis dating from 1845 to ca. 1856 (Weaver and Hopkins 1991). It was converted to a flour mill prior to the Civil War, then burned in 1882. The excavation revealed an interesting feature of the ice house foundation, which was constructed of brick. One wall was serpentine, with the 2 arches buttressed by brick piers. The evidence is that the structure was constructed into the bank of Bayou Gayoso and the wall was curved to increase its strength against slumping. The report includes some discussion of methods of construction for ice houses from contemprorary sources, as well as the development of the Mississippi River ice trade in the 19th century. I can copy relevant sections if Tomas or any others are interested (we don't seem to have an electronic copy readily available, this being from the WordPerfect for Mac days). The reference is:
 
Weaver, Guy and John L Hopkins
1991    Archaeological Data Recovery at the Rum Boogie Site (40SY494), Peabody Place Mall and Office Complex, Memphis, Tennessee. Garrow & Associates, Inc., Atlanta. Submitted to City of Memphis, Division of Housing and Community Development.
 
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Jeffrey L. Holland
Senior Historian
TRC Companies, Inc.
3772 Pleasantdale Road,
Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30340
770-270-1192
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