The Ambassador Hotel in Gary, Indiana was built in 1927 by architect William Stern for newly arrived US steel managers.

This would have been a gorgeous hotel when it was in use. The exterior was brick and marble with fine architectural details. We climbed through most of the floors as far as the staircases would take us. Each of the rooms had a butler door – one that had a hollow interior and panels that opened from within the room and onto the hallway. At night, the guests would put their laundry and shoes within the space and close their side of the door then ring down to the lobby to let them know they had laundry ready. During the night, staff would make the rounds and open their side of the butler doors and take out the laundry, clean the clothes and shine the shoes, then return them before morning.

According to preserveindiana.com, the building has been the subject of many failed attempts at restoration. Occupied until 1985, the Jefferson Park Community Development Corporation attemped in 1993 to raise money to renovate it into 78 units for single and married middle and low income seniors. The renovation was to be an anchor for the entire neighbourhood and the groundbreaking in 1995 began with demolition of the interior. The senior’s residence was to open the next year. The building remains in a state of demolition to this day, with deteriorating rooms, missing spans of wall, and half staircases that lead nowhere.