Ambassador Theatre

Here is another photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yks5hfy

Sadly, no one even showed up for this auction. I live less than a mile from the Ambassador…while the surrounding neighborhood isn’t bad, the immediate area of the theatre is rather shabby. The former building of the Gwynn, across the street, has a collapsed roof. There’s also a long-closed Super Pride market.

Here are two more 1985 photos:

Photo1

Photo2

I remember sitting in the Ambassador with my date some time in 1961-62 and my date complained about her arm getting wet. I told her she was probably imagining it, but a few minutes later I felt a drip, too.

A few minutes later we changed seats and it probably wasn’t more than 60 seconds later that the ceiling collapsed, sending plater, wood and thousands of gallons of water right where we had been sitting!

Turned out that the water cooling tower on the roof had collapsed and caused the deluge.

But it was a beautiful building and is still there, although the plans for renovation have collapsed, too.

As of this writing (April 3, 2009) the Senator theater is about to be foreclosed on and we’re not sure whether it will be saved.

Not only possible, probable. They never come out without leaving SOME evidence of having been there. I could find none.

Sorry, Having trouble with the html, try THIS.

I found the Ambassador pics I took during my “tour” in 2005. All but one of them are of the exterior and show it pretty much as it is now. The one interior shot can be found HERE and shows the stage-left “organ”/HVAC grille from the best vantage point I could access, standing on a precarious support and shooting through a tile removed from the dropped grid ceiling at that point. Even with flash on the camera, the wretched lighting made for no other usable pictures. The grille is very “deco” as can be seen.

I haven’t found a theater organ listed for the Ambassador but that doesn’t mean that it didn’t have one. The organ list is missing a number of theaters and some theaters are listed as “unidentified new theatre”. The Ambassador could be one of those unidentified theaters.

From that description, the interior is probably being gutted and just an empty building is being sold. If you can find the photos, I’d enjoy seeing them.

When I went thru the building when it was being marketed about three years ago, about the only original detail remaining was portions of the “grills” where, if one had ever been installed, the organ chambers would have been. In this instance, it looked like these areas had always been used as air-handling feeds or returns. The rest of the space was abysmal, the balcony had been enclosed and hap-hazardly converted to office space. Mold was rampant and the building reeked of dampness. I’ll link to some pictures if I can locate them.

Wow, does THAT look like a can of worms. If you follow the “Details” link in the previous post you will see the “Maryland Residential Property Disclosure and Disclaimer Statement” filed last year by the owner. To begin with, why this property is being characterized as a “Residence” when the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation clearly has it listed as “Commercial” [url]http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/details.aspx?County=03&SearchType=STREET&AccountNumber=28%20%2002%20%208252%20%20%20003[/url] is a mystery. That link also shows that the property was purchased in 2006 for $300,000. The current listing price is $475,000.

In the Property Disclosure and Disclaimer Statement several salient questions seem to have been “skipped” altogether, e.g., Question #4 “Other Structural Systems, Including Exterior Walls and Floors: Any defects (structural or otherwise)? The available answers are Yes, No or Unknown. The Owner has made no entry. The same holds true for three other germaine questions.

Further, the City Permit and Code Enforcement web page shows that the only Building Permit issued for the property since 2002 is one which expired in August, 2006, taken out for the purpose of “cleaning up trash left by the previous owner. If there is active demolition currently taking place (as indicated in the listing), it is being done without City Permit and probably without its knowledge, so enter at your own risk indeed!

There are bad neighborhoods everywhere. That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be one here.

Its beeen two years since there was a post about making this place a theater again. Anyone know what is going on, if anything? With the recent Senator woes, who happens to be a not too distant neighbor, what is the viability of revitalizing this theater?

Here is a link with some photos:
http://www.kilduffs.com/AAA.html