Help save history in your community by restoring and reusing historic buildings.

“Chocolate Celebrations was once the meat market. That shows how things can change.” —student quote

1705 East Carson Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Date and Style

Built in the 1880s

—Victorian (Italianate) style

Erected during the reign of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901), this Victorian Italianate building is based on the style of Italian Renaissance villas. Notice the projecting eave, or overhanging roof edge, with paired brackets, and the slightly arched window openings decorated with fancy cast-iron window hoods.

Facade improvements funded through the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Streetface Program

Facts and Stories Worth Knowing

• Originally, this was the Gloekler Meat Market, and it was used as a meat-packing house.
• In the 1960s and on through the 1980s, this building housed the Economy Meat Market, where poultry, boiled ham, bologna, ground round steak, spare ribs, sliced bacon, smoked kolbassi, and calf liver were sold, among other foods.
• In 1970, the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation purchased and restored the Economy Meat Market, to demonstrate economical and appropriate restoration.
• Chocolate Celebrations, formerly known as Geoffrey Boehm Chocolates (see advertisement below), has been in this building since 1978, although the family business was established in 1914 in Lawrenceville. (The Lawrenceville store was destroyed in a fire.)
• When the owner finished restoring the building in 2003, the City's Historic Review Commission gave Chocolate Celebrations an award for the excellent job they did. Many of the building's original features were saved, including: the tin ceiling; the glass display windows where meat prices were once posted; and the original lights, both inside and above the awning outside.

• Be sure to see the Hollywood movie “10th & Wolf”, because Chocolate Celebrations is in the movie.
• All the recipes used in making the chocolates and milkshakes are from the original 1914 recipes!
• Chocolate Celebrations has one of only three operating seven-foot soda fountains in the United States.
• Chocolate Celebrations also has a “skyscraper” ice-cream scooper from Isaly's, once located at 1715 East Carson Street.
• The South Side location is the retail shop of Edward Marc Chocolatier. As of 2011, the storefront reads “The Milkshake Factory” because it is the only Edward Marc location that serves ice cream! The other location, called “Chocolate Factory”, is located at 509 Cavitt Avenue, Trafford, PA 15085. There are also two locations in Washington D.C.

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