Ambassadors Theatre

Ambassadors Theatre

Theatre opened in January 1913, designed by W G R Sprague in Classical style with Louis XVI style interiors. The builder was Kingerlee and Sons. The Stalls were re-seated in 1924 and the Circle in 1929 by Sprague and Barton.

The frontage to West Street and the corner to Tower Court is stuccoed, with the remainder in brick laid in English bond. A metal and glazed canopy runs along West Street and the corner with Tower Court. The roof is concealed by a parapet.

The building occupies a splayed almost triangular site. A circular foyer is positioned at the corner of West Street and Tower Court, with a circular bar above and stairs leading off. The auditorium comprises stalls and circle with a proscenium arch 24 feet 6 inches wide, flanked by boxes on each side, and a stage depth of 20 feet 6 inches. Stairs, offices and lavatories adjoin Tower Court. Three storeys of dressing rooms are arranged behind the stage along Tower Street.

The West Street elevation rises three storeys across five bays and is topped by a balustraded parapet with ball finials and a deep moulded cornice. The central three bays are divided by pilasters and contain deeply recessed flat-arched casement windows. The slightly advanced end bays have channelled pilasters beneath segmental pediments, circular openings on the second floor and flat-arched casements to the first floor. The ground floor features a continuous metal and glazed canopy with a deep moulded cornice and alternating mahogany double doors and casement windows. The curved corner between West Street and Tower Court has mahogany half-glazed doors and triple casement windows above, flanked by pilasters. The stuccoed southern bay of the Tower Court elevation is identical to its counterpart on West Street.

The remainder of the Tower Court elevation is constructed in plain brick. The southern end rises three storeys with a semi-basement and three elliptical-headed windows. The central part is two storeys with two elliptical-headed windows and a tall opening for loading scenery. The northern part is three storeys with two elliptical-headed casement windows and a narrow stage door. The Tower Street elevation has a taller three storey southern bay with an elliptical-headed casement on each floor and a lower three storey and semi-basement section of four bays with elliptical-headed windows and an elliptical-headed fire door.

Interior plaster decoration throughout is in Louis XVI style. Public areas feature mahogany doors. The circular foyer has pilasters rising to a decorative plastered ceiling. The circle bar above is similarly treated. The auditorium features a circular high relief decorated plaster ceiling with a central chandelier, a panelled border with roundels and a deep cove penetrated by arches springing from fluted Ionic pilasters. The roundels are richly framed and festooned with coloured armorial decorations in the arch tympana. The Circle has a horseshoe-curved balcony front with panelled and festooned plasterwork decoration, and a narrower section raised at the back with a smaller similar balcony. Its ceiling contains large fielded panels. The Stalls side walls have oval decorations with festoons containing looking glasses; according to an old photograph in the Metropolitan Archives, these originally held paintings. The flat basket-arched proscenium arch is crowned by three armorial decorations, flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters and tall single splayed round-headed boxes with urn decoration above and closed balustrading below.

Original stage machinery includes two fly floors and the traditional system of hemp flying, although the ropes, flying bars and pulley blocks have been replaced. A timber gridiron for suspending scenery survives, fitted with a now rarely surviving but disused single drum and shaft mechanism.