Originally named the Little Theatre, the Helen Hayes was built by producer Winthrop Ames in 1912 on the grounds of what once was John Jacob Astors’ Eden Farm.  Ingalls & Hoffman were the architects.  Ames originally built the Little Theatre with only 299 seats in the hopes of creating an intimate house for the production of noncommercial plays that were too risky to stage in large Broadway theatres.  In 1920, Ames decided to expand the size of the theatre in order to make the theatre more financially viable.  A balcony was added and seating increased up to 597. 

The building was sold to the New York Times Company upon Ames retirement in 1931 and it ceased being a legitimate Broadway theatre in 1937.  It was named The New York Times Hall from 1942-1959 during which time it was leased to CBS Radio and was used as a venue for lectures and concerts.  In 1958, ABC reconverted the space into a theatre.  Dick Clark's Saturday night “The Dick Clark Show” originated from there from February 1958 through September 1961.  It returned to legitimacy in 1963 with Tambourines to Glory by Langston Hughes and Jobe Huntley.  

In March 1965, the name of the theatre went back to the Little and for almost a decade it was leased to Westinghouse Broadcasting who filmed programs there such as “The Merv Griffin Show”.   Later notable theatrical productions at the Little included Gemini (1977) and Torch Song Trilogy.  The theatre was renamed for Helen Hayes in 1983 when her original namesake theatre was demolished (1982). 

In recent years, productions such as Xanadu, The 39 Steps and Colin Quinn’s Long Story Short have played at the Helen Hayes Theatre.  The Tony-nominated Rock of Ages is currently running in the space.