The original 1877 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and now houses the Volcano Art Center.

Between May 2018 and October 2018, the hotel and the Kīlauea summit area of the national park were closed to the public due to volcanic explosions and earthquakes.

Archeological evidence shows activity for hundreds of years, including gathering of volcanic glass to use as cutting tools.

[3] An enterprising Hawaiian was reported to have set up a small thatched hut in the early 1840s to sell food to visitors, who by then included sightseers as well as explorers.

[5] About 1846 a primitive one-room grass shelter was constructed at the rim of the Kīlauea crater by Benjamin Pitman, the first hotel to call itself "Volcano House".

[6] In 1876 George W. C. Jones bought out the other partners in the business and hired William H. Lentz to construct a longer-lasting structure, and manage the hotel.

Lumber for rafters and posts were harvested from local forests of naio (Myoporum sandwicense) and ʻōhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha).

[7] Peter Lee built a hotel at the coast in Punaluʻu to the west, and a road across the Kaʻū Desert to bring visitors.

A large two-story wing took the place of the 1877 structure, which was literally sawn off and relocated back from the cliff to be used as employee quarters.

Lycurgus visited Washington, D.C. to convince powerful friends (many, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt had stayed as guests) to allow him to build an even more elegant hotel on the site of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.

[14] On May 10, 2018, the hotel and the surrounding Kīlauea summit area of the national park was closed to the public as a result of then-ongoing volcanic explosions and earthquakes.

[23] In April 2012, Hawai'i Volcanoes Lodge Company, a partnership between Ortega National Parks (later renamed ExplorUS) and Aqua Hotels and Resorts, became the new concessioner.