Fire News

Historic Ambassador Hotel near downtown Dallas is destroyed in fire

The hotel was 115 years old.

Courtesy photo

The historic Ambassador Hotel near downtown Dallas was destroyed by fire overnight.

Dallas Fire and Rescue officials said that 911 calls came in shortly after 1:30 am on May 28. Dallas Fire and Rescue arrived to find the second and third floors burning, and by 2:15 am, the structure was fully involved. More than 45 units responded to the four-alarm blaze, according to a rough count of the active call list on the DFR website.

The building appeared to be a total loss. It was vacant, so there were no injuries.

Around 4 am, eastbound I-30 from Akard to I-45 was shut down, as were most side streets. The fire made visibility difficult, plus debris was an issue. By 5 am, the lanes had reopened, but there were still debris issues around Griffin Street, and firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots.

In February, we reported that the process of obtaining permits for a historic structure had held up progress by Jim Lake Companies, who bought the structure in 2015 with the intention of developing multifamily housing.

Built in 1904, The Ambassador was first The Majestic, and considered to be the oldest luxury hotel still standing in Dallas. Located at 1312 S. Ervay St. in The Cedars neighborhood, the six-story hotel was considered to be a high rise at the height of its popularity, luring famous guests like Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.

"The Ambassador stands as an important local example of a mid-rise commercial building in the Cedars neighborhood and reflects the dramatic transition of south Dallas through the 20th Century," says a nomination to the National Registration of Historic Places.

In 1981, Sadrudin Alani bought the hotel and began to renovate it. By 1982, the Great Texas Development Corporation bought the Ambassador and announced it would complete the renovation. After the company declared bankruptcy and reorganized as TAP Historic Properties, it opened the property once again as a luxury hotel in 1983.

By 1990, times apparently were hard again, and the hotel temporarily closed due to lack of funds. It was purchased for $800,000 by Bill Gothard to establish the Institute in Basic Life Principles, operating there until it sold the building to Jim Lake Companies in 2015.

This isn't the first time the building has caught fire in recent years, either. On November 18, 2017, a fire on the second floor brought firefighters out as well, but the fire was much smaller and was contained to the second floor, only required two units to combat it, and caused minimal damage.

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A version of this story originally was published on CandysDirt.com.

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1. 5 Dallas high schools rank among America's best in 2025, per U.S. News. Five prestigious Dallas-area high schools are living up to their reputations for top-tier education after being ranked among the best high schools in the country, according to U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings.

2. 27 Dallas billionaires land on new Forbes list of world's richest people. More billionaires have made it onto the 2025 World's Billionaires List than ever before, according to Forbes. This year, 27 Dallas billionaires are among the richest people in the world, including Elaine Marshall, Lyndal Stephens Greth, and Jerry Jones.

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4. 3 affluent Dallas neighbors dominate new list of wealthiest U.S. suburbs. Three well-to-do Dallas-area communities — University Park, Southlake, and Colleyville — are among the wealthiest suburbs in America in 2025, a report confirmed. The three affluent Dallas neighbors were lauded in GoBankingRates ranking of the 50 wealthiest U.S. suburbs, based on 2022 and 2023 average household income data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau.

5. 4 Dallas-area universities make 2026 list of world’s best schools. The University of Texas at Dallas, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, and University of Texas at Arlington are among the top 1,200 schools included in the QS World University Rankings 2026. The Princeton Review agreed, also naming SMU, UTD, TCU, and University of Dallas to its best-in-the-U.S. list, while Forbes named six DFW universities to its list of America's top colleges.

6. 11 cities around Dallas make list of best places to live in the U.S. Nearly a dozen Dallas suburbs, including perennial favorite Flower Mound, have landed among the best places to live in 2025, according to U.S. News & World Report.

7. Dallas middle school ranks No. 1 in Texas for 2026, per U.S. News. More than a dozen Dallas-Fort Worth elementary and middle schools have excelled on U.S. News and World Report's just-released list of the best K-8 schools in Texas for 2026, with one that's first in class: The No. 1 best middle school in Texas is Dallas ISD's William B. Travis Academy/Vanguard for the Academically Talented and Gifted.

8. North Dallas suburb lauded as 5th best U.S. city for working parents. Frisco already has a reputation as a great place for families and a top spot for remote workers, so it's no surprise that the city has clocked in as one of the best places in the country for working parents, too.

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10. Dallas suburb proclaimed 8th best U.S. city to drive in, per report. Dallas roadways are no picnic, but in one neighboring town, it's easy street: A report by WalletHub puts none other than Plano on its list of the top 10 best U.S. cities to drive in for 2025.