This paper investigates the influence of the story stiffness of reinforced concrete (R/C) frame on the seismic response of R/C buildings with proportional hysteretic dampers. For this purpose, non-linear time-history analyses were conducted on a series of multi-degree-of-freedom system models that include a wide range of structural parameters and vertical distributions of story stiffnesses and strengths of R/C main frame and dampers. Although the basic purpose of damper installation is to reduce deformation demands, the results of analyses indicate that the story-drift demand on an entire system could be larger than that of the structure without dampers, depending highly on the stiffness and response period of R/C main frame. Moreover, dampers are shown to be more efficient in reducing the story-drift demand when installed into a flexible R/C main frame.