The Benedict-Gieling House is an exceedingly rare example of a suburban Italianate villa in San Francisco. The building, located in a parklike setting and ornamented on three elevations, was clearly designed to be seen in the round when Duboce Triangle was a genteel estate exurb of San Francisco. The neighborhood once contained a half-dozen comparable properties, but they have all been demolished.

Built by a silver refiner named Jacob Benedict, the property represented the aspirations of an upwardly mobile family at the height of the Comstock Lode Silver Boom. The property originally consisted of the main house, a carriage house, an outhouse, and several outbuildings which occupied less than fifty percent of the lot, leaving room for a lush Victorian garden containing a Canary Island palm, tree ferns and a giant magnolia tree.

Source: Adapted from San Francisco Landmark Designation Application dated July 16, 2018.