[3][6] The theater building consists of two major portions: a 13-story office tower on the narrow Broadway frontage, as well as the auditorium at the rear on 53rd Street.

[7][9] The Broadway elevation of the facade contains the theater entrance and offices, and it is largely designed with Gothic-style glazed terracotta trim.

[37][38] The auditorium has ten stained glass windows in total, depicting scenes from the elder Hammerstein's opera productions.

[36] The underside of the balcony contains Gothic-style moldings,[41] including ribs with foliate decoration and ceiling panels that resemble webs.

[36] The five-story dome was covered by ceiling panels when Letterman hosted The Late Show,[42][48] but they were uncovered in 2015 during Colbert's tenure.

[55][56] That May, Hammerstein announced plans for a "Temple of Music" in memory of his father, to be designed by Herbert Krapp in the Gothic style.

[58] The following January, Hammerstein hired Emmerich Kálmán to write the musical Golden Dawn, to be played at the theater's opening,[59][60] with soprano Louise Hunter as a featured performer.

[65][66] The Broadway Association donated a bronze tablet,[67] and mementos of Oscar Hammerstein, including a silk top hat and a cigar, were placed into the cornerstone.

[18][68] The first production at the theater was Golden Dawn,[69] which featured the American debut of Cary Grant (then known by his birth name, Archie Leach[70]) as well as the first topless woman in a stage production in the U.S.[71][72][73] The artist Joseph Cummings Chase designed 11 portraits of Golden Dawn's cast members, which were hung in the lobby for the dedication.

[100] Ultimately, Laurence Schwab and Frank Mandel leased the theater for their musical shows that June,[100][101][102] and it was renamed the Manhattan Theatre at a ceremony in August 1931.

[103][104] Mandel and Schwab removed some glass windows and Oscar Hammerstein's lobby statue and expanded the orchestra pit.

[38] Within a month of the hall's opening, Rose was forced to fire many of the singing waiters and hostesses due to labor complaints.

[139][140] After another year of failures, the Manhattan Music Hall closed permanently in January 1936 and the Hammerstein's Theatre space was used by the Works Progress Administration (WPA)[141] under the auspices of the "Popular Price Theater".

[157] Architect William Lescaze renovated the interior, keeping nearly all of Krapp's design touches, but covering many walls with smooth white panels.

[151][161] A New York Times reporter wrote in 1943 that the onetime memorial to Oscar Hammerstein was now "another kind of shrine" on Saturday nights.

[37][173] Shielded television cameras had to be developed due to strong magnetic interference from equipment at a neighboring subway substation.

[181] The theater and building were sold in October 1955 to a client of Walter Scott & Co., and the Bowery Savings Bank placed a $600,000 loan on the property.

In addition to CBS, the tenants at the time included Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians and the American Guild of Variety Artists.

[184][185] Additionally, The Stage Show with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey featured the first national television appearances by rock music icon Elvis Presley.

[189] The Ed Sullivan Show hosted numerous events, including The Beatles' debut performance in the United States in 1964.

[222] David Niles and his company 1125 Productions signed a lease in December 1989 for his HDTV studio and his new Broadway show Dreamtime.

[225][226] An NBC special celebrating Phil Donahue's 25 years on television was taped at the Sullivan in 1992,[227] as well as an MTV "Up Close" interview with Paul McCartney of the Beatles.

The rapid sale earned its broker the Henry Hart Rice Achievement Award[235][236] for the Most Ingenious Deal of the Year for 1993.

[260] CBS secured tax breaks from the New York state government to keep the show at the Ed Sullivan Theater.

CBS late-night executive Vincent Favale joked that 30 Rockefeller Plaza's rear marquee (for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon) looked like a mall kiosk in comparison.

[266] The new set was described as being "intimate", with a multi-tier design, many LED lighting and video projection backdrops, and a larger desk area two steps above the orchestra.

[267][268] The Late Show went in production hiatus in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, ultimately broadcasting remotely.

The Rosie O'Donnell Show was broadcast from the theater for a week in October 1996 when several eighth-floor studios at NBC's 30 Rockefeller Center headquarters experienced complications from an electrical fire.

[276] In the early 21st century, during the Late Show with David Letterman's run, the top of the theater's marquee hosted concerts by several musicians, starting with the band Bon Jovi on June 13, 2000.

[284] On February 9, 2014, the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' first Ed Sullivan performance, CBS News hosted a roundtable discussion at the theater, moderated by Anthony Mason.