It sits on the former site of connected 19th-century mansions, which were owned by two influential friends, John Hay and Henry Adams, which led to the hotel's naming.

The hotel occupies the site where the 1885 homes of John Hay and Henry Adams once stood, at 16th and H Streets NW.

In 1927, Washington developer Harry Wardman bought the property, razed the homes, and built a 138-room residential hotel, designed by architect Mihran Mesrobian in the Italian Renaissance style.

[1] Wardman's fortunes declined with the Great Depression, and he was forced to relinquish most of his hotel and apartment building empire in August 1930, with the exception of The Hay–Adams House.

[4] Magazine sold the hotel to businessman Jeffrey I. Friedman and French hotelier Georges F. Mosse in 1979 for approximately $15 million.

Frank Underwood, the main protagonist in the House of Cards television series, stayed in this hotel after resigning the Office of President of the United States until his death in 2017.