Benedict-Gieling House

1. 1867

   William Hollis, director of The Real Estate Associates and the city's largest merchant builder, bought the two blocks bounded by Castro, 15th, 16th and Noe streets, including this site; he later cut them with the new Henry and Beaver streets and sold the lots through the Hillside Tract Homestead Association from autumn 1868.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
2. Ca. 1870

   Built by Jacob Benedict, a silversmith and assayer, on lots in the Hillside Homestead Association tract.

   Duboce Triangle Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
3. 1882

   The house was first given a street number, 10 Beaver Street; it became 22 Beaver Street about 1895.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
4. April 12, 1882

   Jacob Benedict signed the Spring Valley Water Company's water service application for the house, the earliest surviving record of it.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
5. May 4, 1898

   The Davis heirs sold the house for $4,000 to Mary E. Fee, a Market Street dry-goods merchant, who moved in and let rooms, the start of its use as a boarding house.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
6. 1900

   Built by Jacob Benedict.

7. 1906

   Soon after buying the house the Russells added two bathrooms, one enclosed in a hipped-roof tower over the front porch, and built a rental cottage at the northeast corner of the lot (now 20 Beaver Street).

   SF Planning, landmark designation
8. February 5, 1906

   Two months before the 1906 earthquake the house was sold to Stephen D. and Emma W. Russell, whose family kept it until 1941.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
9. January 26, 1915

   Stephen Russell took a permit, the earliest on file for the property, for the one-story garage built in front of the carriage house; it still stands.

   SF Planning, landmark designation
10. 1927–1933

    With the Russell widow and daughter moved to the Marina, the house was let to the operator of a boarding house advertising meals by a German chef.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
11. October 1933

    A $200 permit added a small room between the dining room and the back porch, almost certainly today's rear kitchen wing.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
12. March 23, 1953

    The easternmost 25 feet of the property, with the Russells' rental cottage, was split off and sold as a separate lot (now 20 Beaver Street).

    SF Planning, landmark designation
13. 1965–1966

    An owner who had the lot rezoned for a hotel let the house to a tenant who sublet its rooms to young people from the Haight-Ashbury, leaving it a 'hippie crash pad'.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
14. May 20, 1966

    Photogrammetrist John S. Gieling bought the blighted house, which the city's chief building inspector had wanted demolished, and began restoring it.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
15. May 31, 1966

    The first restoration permit, estimated at $1,800, covered new kitchen and bathrooms, closets, code plumbing and wiring and a rear stair, to plans by architect Felix Rosenthal.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
16. 1970s–1980s

    Red-tagged by the city in the late 1960s, then restored by its owners.

    Duboce Triangle Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
17. 1972

    Architect Albert Lanier, husband of the artist Ruth Asawa, drew up the repairs required by a federal code-enforcement (FACE) inspection and plans converting the carriage house into a dwelling.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
18. 1976

    A dormer was added on the rear slope of the roof, the only notable exterior change of the restoration.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
19. February 17, 1984

    A certificate of occupancy was issued for the carriage house's conversion into a second dwelling, the work having been finished some years before.

    SF Planning, landmark designation
20. Feb 2015

    Permit 201502037354 $$$ $10,000

    Replace existing tub with walk-in tub, 1-20 amp breaker, 1 gfi, 2 outlets.

21. 2018

    Designated San Francisco Landmark No. 284.

    Duboce Triangle Historic Context Statement, adopted 2022
22. Jul 2019

    Permit 201907236630 $$$ $100

    Install bronze landmark plaque, top of plaque to be aligned with adjacent midpoint window mullion.

23. Feb 2021

    Permit 202102174803 $$$ $1

    Admin building permit to document the legal use and occupancy of this structure as a (2) story sfr. a review of city dept records and a site visit has confirmed occupancy as a sfr permit application 421202 as issued in 1973 connected to planning variance vz72.43 to rehab carriage house. subsequent permit on correctly.

24. Feb 2021

    Permit 202102174805 $$$ $1

    Admin building permit to document the legal use and occupancy of this structure as a (3) story sfr. a review of city dept records and a site visit has confirmed occupancy as a sfr permit application 421202 as issued in 1973 connected to planning variance vz72.43 to rehab carriage house. subsequent permit on correctly.

25. Mar 2026

    Issued Permit 202603278432 $$$ $25,000

    Rear structure (carriage house) new roofing, in-kind skylight replacement @ the existing locations, removal of window, 1 replacement window to be installed in the same location; replacement @ existing locations of appliances in kitchen. bathroom remodel. all work occurs @ the carriage house.

26. May 2026

    Permit 202605050682 $$$ $27,000

    Reroofing- no torch down on pitched roof.

1 expired permit is omitted.