The commitment to our artistry began in 1931.
This is our journey, 90+ years in the making.
A trade carried across an ocean.
A standard that remains unchanged.
In 1931, Max Cohen arrived in West Philadelphia from Ukraine carrying a trade he earned through formal apprenticeship: blacksmithing, one of the few crafts permitted to him in the country he left behind. He opened a small iron repair shop at 40th and Westminster, and built a life from the work of his hands.
What began as a repair and fabrication shop deepened over decades into something more considered. In the early 1970s, seeing an opportunity in the market, the Cohen family decided to manufacture its first spiral staircase.
The instinct to build our own product, rather than broker someone else’s creation, has defined our entire philosophy and approach since. We design, engineer, machine, weld, fabricate, and finish every staircase in our 150,000 sqft campus in Broomall, Pennsylvania. Our team of designers, CNC operators, welders, and painters have spent their careers understanding and improving our product.
In an industry that has largely traded quality for volume over time, we have remained committed to keeping every step of the process in-house. We choose our materials for their longevity and the way they age, and treat every process improvement as an opportunity to make the end product better, not cheaper.
Four generations of the Cohen family have owned and operated this business, and the principles Max Cohen set in that first shop, founded on dedication, artistry, and uncompromising standards, are the same ones we hold today.
Makers at the forefront of every step
Every person you talk to at the Iron Shop has a hand in the work. Our sales and operations team sits alongside the designers, engineers, and fabricators building each staircase, so the answers you get come from firsthand knowledge.
