With ‘The Late Show’ leaving and no new occupant announced, the future of Broadway’s most storied talk show stage is suddenly up in the air.

In the if-these-walls-could-talk sweepstakes, the Ed Sullivan Theater might never shut up. Built in 1927, located at 1697-1699 Broadway between 53rd and 54thstreets, and in more or less continuing operation ever since, it has been home to virtually every great entertainment medium — theater, vaudeville, silent cinema, radio and television — that is not rendered in pixels. The upcoming eviction of the latest tenant (as of May 2026, CBS is tossing The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Show to the curb) prompts a look at the storied history of the house named for one of the least charismatic people ever to have performed there.

The venue began life as the Hammerstein Theater, a legitimate house (that is, a home for hard-ticket theatrical productions) built by Arthur Hammerstein in honor of his father, the wealthy cigar maker turned theatrical impresario Oscar Hammerstein. Arthur bankrolled the building with $3 million in profits from his wildly successful 1924 operetta Rose-Marie, whose book and lyrics were written by his son Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach, with music by Rudolf Friml and Herbert Stothart. It was formally dedicated on Dec. 3, 1927.

Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, the Hammerstein was a monument to Jazz Age excess. The interior alone was worth the price of admission: ten stained glass windows, each illustrating one of Hammerstein senior’s hit theatrical productions, a $50,000 pipe organ, an orchestra pit that could be raised or lowered for 50 musicians, mosaics, Czechoslovak rugs and a $18,000 bronze statue of Hammerstein senior sculpted by Pompeo Coppini.

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