I thought that's what he meant. We used to have one in the old house I grew up in. My parents used to can tomatoes every year, and put all the jars down there. It was a spooky place, and I hated it when they told me to go down there and bring up a jar or two.
Some old places used to have ice houses too, where they'd stored all their perishables.
We had one in the house I lived in for a long time.
It was just a closed off area in the basement.
I thought ours was kind of cool.
We have a new house in NH and the basement is one big open area, but mr. mm was asking me if I’d like one cause he could portion off part of the basement and build it in a corner so it would have outside walls and would not be heated.
Canned foods store much better in the dark and chilly temps.