The Ambassador Theatre

 theatre, 1921_construction

4-story theater completed in 1921. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp for the Shuberts, the structure is unusual in that it is situated diagonally on its site to fit the maximum number of seats possible. Its external appearance, indistinguishable from many other Broadway houses, does not hint at the strange layout within. It seats between 1,108 and 1,155, depending on the configuration.

The facade is clad in brown brick, with little ornamentation other than some brick patterning. The main entrance is at the east end, with two pairs of bronze-framed glass doors set at 45-degree angle atop two rounded steps. To the right are two bronze-framed iron gates fronting the east alleyway. Continuing west along the ground floor from the entrance are: four poster boxes (two framed in bronze), three bays with segmental-arched wooden double-doors with multiple small glass panes, and two more bronze-framed poster boxes. A metal gate front the alleyway at the west end. A wide, black metal marquee covers most of the ground floor.

Above the marquee are three bays of double-height segmental-arched panels, with patterned brickwork within each bay. There is a narrow bay with similar brickwork at the west end, extending down the poster box at the ground floor, and a matching narrow bay to the east of the three arched bays; there is also patterned brickwork at the ground floor between the east poster boxes. At the east end above the marquee begins a broad bay of patterned brickwork that shifts into a curved east corner above the main entrance. This rounded corner has circumscribed arched bands of brick. Mounted along the 2nd-3rd-floor levels are seven vertical banners.

A course of corbelled brick (broken into individual segments) runs across the top of this section, following the curve at the east end. Above a smaller, corbelled band course, the top floor consists of three bays at the east end, each with paired windows set under brick segmental-arches and separated by additional single-windows. There is another patterned brickwork panel at the west end, and a brick roof parapet above this whole section. At the east end the top floor rises up higher, with a patterned brickwork panel at the west and a horizontal panel of a different pattern to the right, wrapping around the rounded corner and broken by three small, square windows just above the band couse. Above the panel is a bay of paired windows, a single-window, and at the rounded corner (above the three small windows) are three more single-windows. A paneled brick roof parapet caps this east section, stepping up higher at the center of the rounded corner. The side elevations are also clad in brown brick, but without the decorative patterns. There are sheltered fire escapes filling the alleyways.

The theater opened on February 11, 1921, with the musical The Rose Girl. The Shuberts sold the property in 1935, and for the next two decades it was used as a movie theater and television studio for NBC and the DuMont Television Network. In 1956, the Shuberts assumed ownership again and returned it to strictly legitimate use. Since 2003, it has hosted the hit musical Chicago.

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/ambassador.asp