The Ambassador, Dallas' Oldest Historic Hotel Structure, Destroyed in Fire

The vacant Ambassador Hotel, a 114-year-old historic structure in the Cedars neighborhood just south of downtown Dallas, was gutted by fire Tuesday morning.Flames were visible for miles and smoke quickly spread across the downtown area after the fire broke out around 1:30 at the historic structure in the 1300 block of South Ervay Street. Nearly 100 firefighters responded to the blaze, which was declared under control around 5:30 a.m.Firefighters made a brief attempt to gain entry to see if anyone was inside, but "fire conditions were so advanced by that time that command ordered everyone to pull back and it was clearly going to be a defensive effort at that point," Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans said.The property was in the midst of a mixed-use redevelopment project to transform it into apartments and retail space.  Continue reading...