The A.D. Club originated at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1836 as Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

[3] Its founding members were John Bacon, William Augustus Davis, John Fenwick Eustis, Horatio Emmons Hale, Charles Hayward, Samuel Tenney Hildreth, Charles Stearns Wheeler, and Henry Williams.

[13] Before 1872, the A.D. Club rented rooms in the upper story of a brick house on Palmer Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[1][14] In April 1899, the club purchased the property from the Helen Niles estate, at the corner of Plympton Street and Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge.

[17][7][18] The club occupied the top two stories of the brick and stone building and rented the first floor to a music store and a tailor's shop.

[19][7] A fire started on the first floor of the building on January 18, 1902, causing smoke damage to the club's quarters.

[7] The A.D. Club's members are male students who typically join during their sophomore year.

[8] Members are recruited during Punch, a six-week-long process for all of Harvard's final clubs that takes place annually from October to early December.